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Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arcliive 

in  2007  witli  funding  from 

l\/licrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/blackvalleyrailrOOIiankiala 


From  the  Pacific,  San  Francisco 
A  powerful  argument  for  temperance— original  in  stylo  and  concep- 
tion, and  admirably  adapted  to  interest  all  readers  ami  especially  the 
young.  It  ought  to  be  in  the  Library  of  every  child  and  every  Sabbath 
school,  and  all  temperance  organizations  ought  to  circulate  it  broadcast. 
No  temperance  book  is  calculated  to  do  better  service  or  to  make  a 
deeper  pojjular  impression. 

From  Rev.  Wm.  M.  Tliaijer,  Secretary  Mass.  Temperance  Alliance. 

One  of  the  most  fascinating  and  instructive  temperance  volumes  ever 
published— a  mental  and  moral  stimulant.  The  Bible  doctrine  of  tem- 
perance, licence  and  prohibition  is  set  forth  so  ;is  to  compel  attention, 
and  we  are  not  surprised  that  moderate  drinkers  and  rum-sellers  are 
stirred  up  by  reading  it.  Every  friend  of  temperance  should  have  one 
to  loan,  and  every  Sabbath  School  Library  should  have  several  of  them 
in  circulation. 

From  Prof.  G.  X.  Webber,  MidiUehury  College. 
The  most  readable  and  eft'ective  book  on  temperance  that  has  been 
published  in  these  latter  days. 

From  the  New  York  Observer. 

Will  do  as  much  as  the  best  in  training  the  young. 

From  the  American  Missionary. 

A  book  which  every  minister  and  Sabbath  school  teacher  will  be  glad 
to  read. 

From  the  Advocate  of  Peace. 
Most  happily  conceived  and  executed.    Its  perusal  will  afford  sincere 
delight  10  thousands  of  readers.    It  is  not  too  much  to  hope,  that  by  the 
blessing  ot  God  it  will  prove  a  most  eliective  instrumentality  for  pre- 
veutiuy  the  evils  of  intemperance. 

From  the  Gardian  of  Health. 
The  book  will  be  read  by  millions.    It  advocates  prohibition  and 
moral  suasion,  and  shows  that  the  church  is  the  source  whence  must 
liow  the  iuiluence  which  is  to  sweep  away  tins  curse  of  curses. 

From  the  Vermont  Chronicle 
An  allegory  of  great  clearness,  and  so  full  of  scripture  sentiment  that 
like  a  gospel  parable,  the  drunkard  and  the  man  who  puts  tlie  cup  to 
his  lips  may  see  themselves  as  in  a  glass,  while  iho  promise  of  salvation 
both  temporal  and  eternal  appears  in  the  "pure  river  of  water  of  life 
clear  as  crystal  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Iiamb."  A 
powerful  argument  for  temperance  on  the  right  basis. 

From  the  Wellspring. ' 

Should  be  In  all  oar  Sabbath  school  Libraries,  and  every  boy  in  the 
laud  should  read  it. 

Fi'om  Rev.  S.  H,  Hayes,  Seamen's  Chaplain,  Boston. 
The  best  thing  on  the  subject  In  the  language.    It  is  capital  for  Sab- 
baih  school  Suixjrintendents  and  ministers,  each  chapter  furnishing 
precisely  the  picture  and  the  i>oiat  for  a  lecture. 


TESTIMONIALS. 


I  have  ncvpr  seen  any  document,  tract,  book,  or  illustration,  that, 
as  a  powerful  exhibitor  of  truth,  is  at  all  comparable  with  it."  — 
John  Ji.  Gough. 

A  bookseller  says,  "From  my  store-window  it  preaches  temper- 
ance all  day  long  to  multitudes  whose  attention  it  arrests." 

A  sea-captain  writes,  "An  intemperate  shipmaster  saw  it  in  the 
West  Indies.  It  led  him  to  sign  the  pledge,  and  discharge  all  the 
bottles  in  his  ship  into  the  sea.  He  returned  to  his  family  a  sober 
man." 

A  pastor  writes,  "I  h.ave  known  four  exceedingly  interesting  re- 
formations by  it.  Two  youngmen  read  it  together.  One  said  to  the 
other.  •  We  are  on  that  road,  and  pretty  near  the  last  stopping-place. 
I  will  leave  the  train  if  you  will.'  —  •  I  will  do  it,'  said  the  other;  and 
lioth  stopped  drinking.    Afterward  the  father  of  one  did  the  same." 

Another  writes,  "We  have  had  a  public  meeting  to  request  our 
pelectmen  to  close  up  all  the  Ticket-ollices  of  the  Black  Valley 
liailroad ;  and  they  have  done  it." 

From  a  man-of-war,  a  sailor  missionary  writes,  "  One  hundred 
and  fifty  have  signed  the  pledge.  It  is  the  best  thing  I  ever  saw  In 
print." 

From  Port  Natal,  Africa,  another  writes,  "It  has  led  to  the  or- 
ganization of  an  efficient  temperance  society." 

Another  writes,  "I  think  it  adapted  to  produce  great  moral  ef- 
fects.   It  will  save  many  from  a  drunkard's  life  and  death." 

Another  writes,  "  If  it  conld  be  introduced  into  all  our  schools, 
it  would  be  the  cheapest,  most  impressive,  and  most  successful  way 
of  teaching  temperance  to  the  rising  generation." 

A  company  of  boys,  mistaking  it  for  the  advertisement  of,a  rail- 
road excursion,  while  trying  to  find  where  to  go  after  tickets 'saw  its 
meaning,  and  exclaimed,  "It  is  the  road  to  hell.  Let  us  get  no 
tickets." 

"  Should  induce  all,  young  or  old,  to  pause  before  entering  the 
train  leadingtothis  valley  of  horrors." — Hon.  Edxoard  C.  Delavan, 
Albany. 

"  Your  ideas  of  Intemperance,  as  embodied  in  the  picture  of  the 
Jilack-  VaUeij  Railroad,  I  think  adapted  to  produce  a  great  moral 
effect  in  the  minds  of  the  young.  The  little  folks  take  great  pleas- 
ure in  tracing  out  the  truth  written  all  over  it.  I  wish  every  school 
in  the  land  might  have  one  of  those  pictures  iu  it.  It  attracts  the 
eyes  of  the  young,  and  instrumentally  will  save  many  of  them  from  a 
drunkard's  life,  death,  and  eternity."  —  Jiev.  H.  M.  J'arsons,  Boston. 

"  We  wish  that  on  the  walls  of  each  Sabbath  School  were  hung 
up  the  powerful  and  terrific  picture,  the  Black-Valley  Railroad, 
which  maps  out  the  whole  tour  of  the  tipler  from  Sippington  to  To- 
persviUe,  clear  on  to  Demonland  and  Destruction." — Independent, 
bij  liev.  T.  L.  Cuyler. 

"  One  of  the  most  wonderful  things  of  the  age,  vividly  exhibiting 
the  way  to  ruin  by  intemperance."  —  Quinctj  (III.)  liepublican. 


THE 

BLACK     VALLEY: 

THE  EAILROAD  A^^D  THE  COUNTEY; 

WITH  AX   ACCOUNT  OF 

THE    INTRODUCTION    OF   WATER. 

By  S.  W.  hanks. 
l^'jth  strtkixg  illustrations. 


*»  This  book  is  writ  in  snch  a  dialect 
As  may  the  minds  of  listless  njen  affect. 
It  seems  a  novelty,  and  yet  contains 
Nothint;  hut  sound  and  honest  gospel  strains. 
Truly  'twill  make  no  traveller  of  thee, 
If  by  its  council  thou  ■vyllt  ruled  be." 

—  BujfYAN. 


BOSTON : 
CONGREGATIONAL  PUBLISHING  SOCIETY, 

No.    13   CORNHILL, 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871,  by 

8.  W.  HANKS, 
In  the  OfBce  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


STEREOTYPED   BY  C.  J.    PETERS  &   SON, 
S  WASHINGTON   ST.,    BOSTON. 


PREFACE. 


This  book  has  gi'own  out  of  the  tract  called 
"  The  Black- Valley  Road  >f^  more  than  three  mil- 
lions of  which  have  beea  called  for  since  its  first  pub- 
lication. It  was  prepared  for  the  benefit  of  seamen, 
but  has  been  found  to  be  useful  among  landsmen, 
as  well.  The  allegorical  style  has  been  chosen,  as 
best  adapted  to  accomplish  the  object  in  view.  It 
has  been  written  with  the  hope  of  helping  to 
direct  attention  to  the  evils  of  the  liquor-traffic, 
now  more  terrible  than  war,  pestilence,  or  famine. 
The  author  is  impressed  with  the  belief,  that  the 
Bible,  rightly  understood,  and  applied  by  the 
agencies  of  the  Church,  co-operating  with  other 
instrumentalities,  is  the  most  efficient  weapon  to  be 
used  in  the  war  against  the  evil.  Those  who  are 
familiar  with  the  facts,  methods,  and  results  of  the 
dram-shop    business,   will    have   no   difiiculty   in 

6 


6  PREFACE. 

understandiug  what  is  meant  by  the  Black- Valley 
Country  ;  while  those  who  have  paid  even  slight 
attention  to  the  symbolic  meaning  of  the  Bible 
"\A  ill  see  that  the  water  which  has  swept  away  the 
Black- Valley  Road  means  Christian  truth,  produ- 
cing spiritual  life,  with  its  accompanying  moral 
influences. 

The  poetry  is  not  ours.  I.  N.  Tarbox,  D.D., 
furnishes  "  A  ride  on  the  Black-Valley  Road," 
The  "Water  Song"  is  by  Rev.  J.  Pierpont,  and 
"  Delirium  Tremens  "  by  J.  Allison.  The  statis- 
tics refer  to  the  United  States.  The  author  has 
avoided  personalities,  and  made  garments  for  the 
general  market ;  but,  if  individuals  find  a  good  fit, 
it  is  hoped  they  will  appropriate  freely,  according 
to  their  own  ideas  of  fitness. 

S.  W.  H 

Camhiudce,  1871. 


CO:iN[TENTS. 


CHAPTER  I,                                    PAGE. 
Boundaries  and  Characteristics 13 

CHAPTER  n. 
Starting-Place  of  Travellers 21 

CHAPTER  m. 
Excursions  fur  Ilcalth 28 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Last    Stopv>ing-Placc.  —  Express-Trains.  —  Flag-Men.  —  llr, 

Konshunts,  &c 35 

CHAPTER   V. 
Principal  Places.  —  Rowdyville,  Fightington,  Brothclton,  Bcg- 
garstown,    Prisonton,    Maniiicvillo,    Demonland,    Idiot 
Flats,  &c 48 

CHAPTER  VI, 
Attempts  to  check  tlic  Husinessof  the  Road. — Liccoso,  -^M>. 

Chusctts,  &c 70 

CHAPTER  Vn. 
Prosperity  of  the  Road.  —  Water  and  Forcing-Instruments. — 

Flooding  of  Sippington 05 

CHAPTER  Vni. 
Sippington  annexed  to  Fountainland.  —  Great  Disturbance  at 
Mcdicincvillc.  —  Arrest  and  Trial  of  fifty-five  Blaclc- Valley 

Mcu m 

7 


CONTENTS. 


CnAPTER  IX.  PAGE. 

Great   Exciteraent   about  the   Flood.  —  ModicJiioville  Ddpot 

swept  awiiy,  and  the  Placj  improved 127 

CHAPTER  S. 

Meeting  called  to   annex  Modicinc%-ilIo    to    Fountainland. — 

Speeches,  llcsolutions  passed,  loud  Cheers,  &c.   .        .        .    131 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Change  in  the  Condition  of  the  Country.  —  Old  St.igemen 
turn  Boatmen.  —  Great  Wash-out.  —  Prince  of  the  Black 
Valley  calls  a  Council.  —  Bridges,  Depots,  Broken  Cars, 
Skeletons,  &c 144 

CHAPTER  Xn. 

Great  Joy  in  the  Black-Valley  Country  on  Account  of  the 
Flood.  —  Outcasts  welcome  the  Water.  —  The  Great  Des- 
ert blossoms ,       .    151 

CHAPTER  Xin. 

Confiscated  Property  of  the  Black- Valley  Corporation  used 
for  the  Construction  of  a  Prison.  —  Prisonton  Water- 
Works.— Exhibition  of  the  Power  of  Water.  —  Treat- 
ment of  Prisoners. —  Music.  —  Trip-liammers       .        .        .    157 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Origin  of  the  Waters.  —  Report  of  Special  Commissioi]. — 

Reading  from  an  Ancient  Book 175 


The  voliirae  contains  200  pages  and  16  striking 
illustrations,  with  Dr.  Sewall's  Stomach  Diagrams. 
Price  $1.00;  forwarded  by  mail. 

OOUG'L  PUBLISHIITG  SOCIETY, 

13  Cornhill.  Boston. 


9   1 

BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD. 

Sippington. 

GREAT 

Deliriumton. 

Medicineviile. 
Tippleton. 

CENTRAL 
FAST 

ROUTE, 

Demonland. 

Hornets'-Nest 
Thicket. 

Topersville. 
Drunkards' 

FROM 

SIPPINaTON 

TO    THE 

Screech-Owl 

Forest. 

Curve. 
Rowdyville. 
Quarrelton. 

Black  Valley. 

— ( — 

ACCIDENTS 

BY  COLLISIONS 

Horrorland. 

Serpentiand. 

Maniacville. 

Riotville. 

ENTISELY  AVOIDED, 

Idiot  Flats. 

Beggarstown. 

AS    ONLV 

Down-Trains 

Black  Valley. 

Woeland. 

ARE    RUN 

Great  Desert. 

OVER  THE  ROAD. 

Cloudland. 

Gamblersville. 

• — 

Fightington. 
Brothelton. 
Robbers'  Den. 

TICKETS 

SOLD    AT 

ALL 
LIQUOR 

Thunderland. 

Stormland. 

Whirlwind 

Crossing. 

Prisonton. 

SHOPS. 

Destruction. 

An  emlgraut  to  the  Blaek  Valley  Country,  transacting  a  delicate  item 
of  business  at  an  office  of  the  Black  Valley  Kail  Road. 


SPECIAL    NOTICES. 


LOOK    OUT    FOR    PICKPOCKET^ 

WHILE  PURCHASING  TICKETS. 


e^-  From  Dkcnkards'  Curve  the  Train  is  an  Express;  all 
TAKING  rs  being  done  above  that  station,  and  principally  of  re- 
spectable people.  Passengers  for  all  the  places  beyond  are  thrown 
OUT  without  stopping  the  Train. 

jgg'  Passengers  not  allowed  to  stand  on  the  platform,  or  to  put 
their  heads  out  of  the  windows  below  Rowdyville,  —  the  Corpora- 
tion not  wishing  to  alarm  persons  who  are  not  patrons  of  the  Road. 

eS"  Persons  desiring  to  leave  the  Train  will  find  the  FOUN- 
TAlIf-LAND  Stages  at  Drunkards'  Curve,  and  all  the  Stations 
above,  ready  to  convey  them  free  to  any  of  the  villages  upon 
CRYSTAL  WATER  RIVER.  Below  Drunkards'  Curve,  ambu- 
lances will  be  used. 

«5-  Persons  living  in  the  vicinity  of  this  Road  must  "  look  out 
for  the  engine,"  as  no  bell  is  rung  or  brakcmen  employed  below 
Drunkards'  Curve,  and  the  Company  disclaim  all  responsibility  for 
damages. 

j^-  All  Baggage  at  the  risk  of  the  owners.  Widows  and 
orphans  in  pursuit  of  baggage  lost  by  friends  on  this  Road  are  in- 
formed that  the  Corporation  will  adhere  strictly  to  the  usages  of  the 
Hood,  and  positively  will  not  restore  lost  baggage. 

iO"  Passengers  in  the  sleeping-cars,  especially  Stockholders,  will 
be  waked  up  at  Screech-Owl  Forest,  Thunderland,  and  at  t'.ie  End 
of  the  Road. 

10 


ANNUAL   BUSINESS 


BLACK-VALLEY   RAILROAD. 


(1.)  It  is  carrying  annually  over  six  hundred  thousand  travellers 
into  the  Black  Valley  Country,  where  more  than  two  millions  of 
men,  women,  and  children  are  kept  under  a  cloud  of  untold  migery 
and  wretchedness. 

(2.)  It  carries  down,  and  throws  out,  annually,  at  Beggarstown, 
more  than  four  hundred  thousand  persons,  of  whom  two  hundred 
thousand  arc  orphans. 

(3.)  It  carries  annually  one  hundred  thousand  men  and  women 
to  Prisonton,  three  hundred  of  whom  are  murderers. 

(4.)  It  carries  down  to  disgrace  and  destruction  multitudes  of  the 
most  talented  and  promising  men  from  every  profession  in  life. 

(5.)  It  consumes  sixty  millions  of  bushels  of  grain  annually  for 
its  Engine,  the  Distillery. 

(6.)  It  carries  over  twelve  hundred  millions  of  dollars  out  of  the 
pockets  of  travellers. 

(7.)  It  carries  annually  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  thousand 
people  to  a  premature  grave. 

(8.)    It  gives  employment  to  five  hundred  and  seventy  thousand 

people,  most  of  whom  are  voters, 

11 


12 


m 
X 

•V 


> 

H 

O 

z 


H 
m 


O 

H 
C 

m 


BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 


o>»ic 


CHAPTER  I. 

boundaries  a7id  l>istlnguis?iinff  Characteris- 
tics. 

Is  the  country  of  Avliich  this  volume 
treats  now  contains  a  very  large 
and  rapidly-increasing  population,  all 
of  whom  have  irone  down  over  the  aforesaid 
}-oad,  and  made  a  permanent  settlement  of 
themselves  and  their  families  in  the  Black- 
Valley  Country  ;  and  as  the  corporation  of  the 
road,  by  its  great  wealth,  shrewd  management, 
and  indomitable  energy,  is  exerting  a  world- 
wide influence  socially  and  morally,  as  well  as 
politically  and  financially,  —  having  more  than 

13 


14  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

five  hundred  thousand  employees,  and  receiving 
more  than  tivelve  hundred  millions  of  dollars 
annually  from  its  patrons,  —  it  seems  desirable 
tliat  the  subject  should  be  studied  by  the 
Christian  and  philanthropist  as  well  as  the 
statesman  and  political  economist. 

The  candid  and  intelligent  reader  who  has  no 
stock  in  the  road,  and  who  extends  no  patronage 
to  it,  will  find  it  easy  to  comprehend  what  is 
here  written  ;  while  those  who  have  an  interest 
in  the  road,  and  occasionally  take  excursions 
upon  it,  and  especially  those  ivho  are  within  the 
ring  of  the  corporation,  will  find  it  difficult  to 
understand  the  meaning  of  the  volume,  as 
persons  who  suppose  themselves  to  have  beau- 
tiful features  sometimes  find  it  hard  to  believe 
their  own  eyes  when  looking  into  the  face  of 
the  person  who  always  confronts  them  in  a 
looking-o;lass. 

The  Black- Valley  Country  is  situated  in  an 
extensive  lowland,  lying  between  an  elevated 


JiLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  15 

and     extremely    fertile     and    beautiful    region 
bounding  it  upon  its  upper  limits  and  a  vastind 
unexplored  desert  forming  its  lower  boundary. 
The   country   lying   above   it,  and  forming  \t^ 
upper  boundary,  is  called  Fountainlaiid,  from  its 
great     abundance    of    water.       Cascades    and 
waterfalls   are   numerous  ;    so    that  the    whole 
country  can   be  irrigated  and   enriched   by  an 
abundant  supply  of  the  purest  water.     Living 
springs  are  found  in   every  part  of  the  land" 
forming  multitudes  of  rivulets,  whIdlVuniting' 
fl6w4nto  and  form  at  last  what  is  known  as  tlie 
great  Crystal-Water  River,  of  which  the  reader 
wilf  learn  more  in  the  progress  of  this  volume. 
In  the  vicinity  of  the  streams  and  lakes  of 
Fountainland,    numerous     flourishing'   villages   ■ 
and  large  cities  have   been  built  up.     Tlilw 
places  are  all  famous  fdV  the  health  arid  tkrift    ' 
and  entei-prise    and  good"  characteV'  of    tiieip 
inhabitants.     Wealth,  too,  abounds ;  and  nearly'  ^ 
all  the  people  live  in  their  own  houses  in  a  state 


16  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

of  comparative  independence.  The  morals  and 
good  order  of  the  place  are  such,  that  no  police 
force  is  required  for  the  protection  of  life  and 
property.  Prisons,  almshouses,  and  lunatic  hos- 
pitals, are  entirely  unknown.  The  taxes  levied 
upon  the  people  are  principally  for  the  support 
of  educational  institutions  and  the  general 
improvement  of  the  country.  A  case  of 
delirium  tremens  is  never  known ;  and  no 
native-born  drunkard  is  ever  seen  in  the  place. 
One  section  of  this  Fountainland  is  occupied 
by  emigrants  from  the  Black- Valley  Country, 
who  have  removed  there  on  account  of  the 
excellence  and  abundance  of  the  water,  as 
well  as  the  good  effects  of  it  upon  themselves 
and  their  families.  These  emigrants  have  built 
up  many  flourishing  villages  upon  the  banks 
of  the  Crystal- Water  River.  Before  their 
removal  from  the  Black- Valley  Country,  they 
were  extremely  poor,  as  well  as  low  in  the 
scale     of     civilization.      Their     houses    were 


DLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  17 

mostly  wretched  hovels,  into  which  all  the 
winds  and  rains  of  heaven  had  the  freest 
access.  Rags  and  demolished  hats  supplied 
the  place  of  window-glass ;  while  clapboards, 
dangling  by  a  single  nail,  clattered  doleful 
music  to  all  the  storms  which  prevailed  with- 
out and  within.  In  process  of  time,  these 
emin;rants  became  the  most  ardent  admirers  of 
the  institutions,  laws,  and  customs  of  Fountain- 
land,  and  supplied  much  valuable  information 
and  efficient  aid  to  the  explorers  and  invaders 
of  the  Black- Valley  Country,  as  will  appear  in 
the  sequel. 

On  its  lower  limits,  the  Black- Valley 
Country  is  bounded  by  a  vast  desert,  whose 
inhabitants  arc  continually  wandering  in  dry 
places,  seeking  rest,  and  finding  none.  Over 
this  desert  thick  clouds  are  always  gathering 
and  rolling,  indicating  approaching  storms  and 
tempests.  Winds  war  with  winds,  and  storms 
howl  to  storms ;  while  forked  lightnings  cross, 


18  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

and  thunders  mutter  sounds  of  sullen  wrath. 
It  is  "  a  land  of  darkness  as  darkness  itself," 
where  no  light  comes  save  what  the  lurid 
flames  of  the  volcano  at  the  end  of  the  road 
"cast  pale  and  dreadful."  It  is  sometimes 
called  Tophet,  from  its  resemblance  to  an 
ancient  place  of  that  name,  where  "  the 
breath  of  the  Lord,  like  a  stream  of  brimstone, 
doth  kindle  the  flame."  Here  are  continents 
of  desert  gloom,  where  every  thing  is  in  a  state 
of  disorder,  beyond  the  bounds  of  light  and 
life  and  love ;  "  wher(3  gravitation,  shifting,  turns 
the  other  way,"  forever  drawing  men  from  all 
that  is  good.  It  is  a  place  of  outer  darkness, 
where  there  is  weeping  and  wailing,  and  gnash- 
ing of  teeth,  and  where  all  shapes  and  forms 
and  modes  of  wretchedness  are  gathered. 
Here  are  doo-s  and  sorcerers  and  whoremon- 
gers  and  murderers  and  idolaters,  and  whatso- 
ever love  tli  and  maketh  a  lie. 

Here  is  the  worm  that  dieth  not,  and  the  fire 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  19 

that  is  not  quenched.  Here  is  found  the 
reptile  whose  tooth  is  like  the  "  cruel  venom  of 
asps,  and  which,  at  the  last,  bitetU  like  a  ser- 
pent, and  stingeth  like  an  adder." 

The  number  of  travellers  passing  annually- 
through  the  Black- Valley  Country  into  these 
lower  regions  beyond  is  estimated  at  from 
sixty  to  a  hundred  thousand. 

One  of  the  most  noticeable  characteristics  of 
the  inhabitants  is  their  aversion  to  water. 
Though  water  can  be  easily  procured,  the 
people  seem  quite  disinclined  to  use  it,  even  for 
purposes  of  irrigation.  In  some  cases  they 
have  such  a  horror  of  it,  that  symptoms  of 
hydrophobia  have  been  indicated  at  the  appear- 
ing of  a  watering-cart  on  the  dry  and  dusty 
streets  of  some  of  their  cities  in  the  lower 
portions  of  the  country. 

Another  remarkable  fact  about  the  inhabit- 
ants is,  that  not  one  of  the  vast  population  of 


20 


BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 


the  country  was  horn  in  the  land.  They  have 
all  gone  down  npon  the  Black- Valley  Railroad  ; 
and  their  aversion  to  water  is  commonly  attrib- 
uted to  the  effect  of  travel  on  that  road. 


CHAPTER,  ir. 


Sho7PS  7vhere  Travellers  get  tJiemselyes  ready 
for  their  3)eparture  to  the  'Slack -Valley 
Country,  and  what  Bfforts  hare  been  made 
to  demolish  the  G7'eat  ^epot  at  that  Tlace. 

^^B^S  the  traveller  enters  the  country, 
^"'^*^'"-'  the  first  thing  which  arrests  his 
attention  is  the  smokiness  of  the 
atmosphere  and  the  great  scarcity  of  pure  water. 
The  effect  of  this  condition  of  the  air  is,  com- 
monly, to  produce  a  nausea,  and  sense  of  uneasi- 
ness ;  so  that  travellers  are  not  unfrequently 
induced  to  return.  If  this  nausea  is  overcome, 
the  condition  of  the  air  soon  ceases  to  be 
noticed  ;  and  at  length  travellers  come  to  prefer 
a  smoky  to  a  clear  atmosphere.  This  phe- 
nomenon  is   peculiar  to   the  country.     Many 

21 


22  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

philosophical  explanations  have  been  given  of 
it ;  the  most  plausible  of  Avhich  is,  that  the 
smoke  of  the  country  affects  the  brain,  and 
puts  travellers  into  a  dreamy  state,  and  more 
especially  young  travellers,  avIio  are  often 
made  to  feel  that  their  abihty  to  overcome  the 
nausea  which  they  experienced  on  entering  the 
country  is  an  evidence  of  a  capacity  for  some- 
thing promising  in  the  future.  The  first  place 
of  magnitude  which  the  traveller  enters,  as  he 
advances,  is 

SIPPINGTON, 

the  ffi^eat  upper  teo-tninus  of  the  Black -Valley 
Jlailroad.  Here  a  vast  population,  mostly 
of  young  people,  are  busy  in  getting  ready  to 
emigrate  to  the  Blach -Valley  Country.  The 
population  of  the  place  is  estimated  at  two 
millions.  Every  year,  great  numbers  come  in 
from  the  country  above ;  and,  were  it  not  for 
the  fact  that  they  soon  leave  to  go  farther,  the 
place  would  be  overflo\ying  with  its  inhabitants. 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILUOAD.  23 

Boys  and  young  men  como  to  this  place  in 
vast  numbers ;  and  it  is  a  striking  peculiarity 
C'f  the  place,  that  few  middle-aged  or  old  men 
are  seen  here.  They  that  come  pass  on 
quickly  to  the  places  below ;  and  thronging 
ranks  come  in  after  them. 

Upon  several  occasions,  this  place  lias  been 
attacked  with  the  design  of  destroying  it. 
Once  its  inhabitants  were  principally  driven  out : 
so  that  for  nearly  twenty  years  the  great 
depOt,  at  one  time  more  splendid  than  the 
famous  Crystal  Palace,  was  in  a  dilapidated 
condition ;  and  for  a  long  time  it  was  thought 
it  would  fall  down.  This  state  of  things  was 
brought  about  by  persuading  young  people  not 
^toc^n^r  the  place,  and  the  inhabitants  to  re- 
turn to  the  country  from  which  they  came. 
Several  famous  trumpeters  were  sent  down 
from  Fountainland  to  rouse  the  people  to  a 
sense  of  their  danger.  These  trumpeters  blew 
a  blast  so  loud,  that  many  of  the  inhabitants 


24  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

wero  friglitencd.  Ticket-masters  in  the  great 
depot  thought  the  judgment-day  had  come,  the 
blast  was  so  long  and  loud,  and  made  sucli  a 
dreadful  sound  in  their  ears.  Many  left  the 
place,  never  to  return.  At  the  first  sound  of 
the  trumpet,  they  fled  in  haste  ;  and  many  of 
them  became  trumpeters  themselves ;  and  all, 
uniting  together,  sounded  such  an  alarm,  that 
the  houses  in  the  place  shook,  and  the  great 
depot  of  the  Black- Valley  Railroad  was  shat- 
tered as  if  it  had  been  struck  by  lightning. 
Some  of  these  trumpeters  were  men  of  re- 
nown ;  and,  when  they  sounded  their  trumpets, 
the  blast  woke  up  whole  neighborhoods  and 
townships.  In  some  instances,  this  blast  was 
known  to  start  men  to  their  feet  from  a  deep 
sleep. 

Each  of  these  trumpeters  had  his  peculiar 
gift,  and  each  one  a  trumpet  according  to  his 
taste.  These  trumpets  were  of  iron  and  brass 
and  silver ;  and,  when  they  sounded  together, 


page  24. 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  25 

could  be  heard  at  a  great  distance ;  and  the 
sound  was  very  terrible,  especially  to  the 
masters  of  the  depots  upon  the  Black- Valley 
Road.  In  many  instances,  they  were  induced 
to  abandon  their  business  by  reason  of  the 
shaking  that  came  upon  them  when  they  heard 
the  sound  of  these  trumpets.  At  Sippington 
the  alarm  was  almost  universal  ;  so  that 
whole  families  in  great  numbers  were  induced 
to  leave  the  town  forever. 

While  the  aforesaid  trumpeters  were  sound- 
ing alarms,  and  persuading  the  inhabitants  of 
Sippington  to  abandon  the  place  and  remove 
to  Fountainland,  they  were  greatly  surprised 
at  the  appearance  of  a  company  of  old  travel- 
lers upon  the  Black- Valley  Road,  who  united 
with  them  in  their  attempts  to  alarm  the  Sip- 
pingtonians.  These  travellers  bore  witness  to 
the  truth  of  what  the  trumpeters  declared. 
They  said  they  were  all  originally  from 
Sippington^  having  commenced  their  travels  in 


26  BLACK  -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

the  Black- Valley  Country  at  that  place. 
These  travellers  were  from  all  the  places  upon 
the  Black- Valley  Road.  The  men  from  Topers- 
ville  spoke  earnestly  of  the  mischiefs  which 
Sippington  had  done  to  them ;  and  their  fiery 
faces  imparted  impressiveness  to  their  words. 
From  IlowdyvlUe,  Quarrelville,  and  Fighting- 
ton,  the  men  with  faces  bruised  and  battered 
gave  in  similar  testimony.  From  Beggarstown, 
Prisonton,  Deliriumton,  and  Demonland,  the  tes- 
timony was  the  same ;  all  uniting  in  declaring 
that  the  great  Black- Valley  Country  was  in- 
habited by  those  who  had  gone  down  to  those 
regions  from  Sippington. 

Among  this  company  were  some  from  the 
very  lower  regions  of  the  country  in  which  the 
road  terminates.  Some  of  these  declared  that 
they  had  seen  the  volcano  at  the  end  of  it,  and 
.that  the  hissing  and  thundering  of  its  fiery 
flood  could  be  heard  for  many  miles,  and  was 
enough  to  appall  the  stoutest  heart.    Some  even 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD,  27 

declared  that  they  had  seen  the  prince  of  the 
country  hovering  among  the  flames  Avhicli  shot 
up  from  the  burning  mountain  at  the  end  of  the 
road. 

For  a  long  time  it  was  hoped  that  the  great 
d(5pot  at  Sippington  would  never  be  repaired, 
and  that  the  place  would  go  to  decay.  But,  as 
soon  as  the  trumpeters  stopped  sounding  the 
alarm,  the  ddpot  began  to  be  repaired,  and  the 
place  to  be  rebuilt;  and  now  it  is  said  that 
the  business  of  the  Black- Valley  Road  is  again 
in  a  prosperous  condition,  and  that  the  prince 
of  the  Blaclc- Valley  Country  and  proprietor  and 
keeper  of  the  great  d6p6t  at  the  lower  terminus 
of  the  roadie  enjoying  as  much  satisfaction  in 
contemplating  the  prosperity  of  his  business  as 
the  nature  of  the  case  will  allow.  The  reader 
will  hear  more  of  this  place  by  and  by,  wlien 
the  plan  for  attacking  and  demolishing  it  shall 
be  made  known. 


CHAPTER    III. 

SPiOH'S  how  JEJxcursionists  for  Sealth  found 
tfieniselyes  ticketed  in  t?ie  If  rang  2)irectioti, 
— Tipple  ton  and  Topersvilte. 


MEDICINEVILLE. 

HIS  is  a  flourishino;  village  within 
the  limits  of"  Sippington,  and  is  re- 
garded as  the  court  end  of  the 
town.  Multitudes  of  travellers  on  the  Black- 
Valley  Railroad  take  their  tickets  at  this  place. 
Fancy-tickets  for  excursionists  are  sold  here  in 
great  numbers,  the  purchasers  being  informed 
that  short -trips  upon  the  road  are  healthful  as 
well  as  exhilarating.  By  reason  of  these  rep- 
resentations, invalids  are  so  frequently  persuad- 
ed to  make  excursions,  that  special  trains, 
23 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  29 

called  tlie  invalid-trains,  start  from  this  place. 
It  is  a  favorite  d^pOt  for  young  ladies,  who 
come  to  this  village  in  great  numbers  to  take 
the  invalid-trains,  which  are  commonly  much 
crowded  during  the  seasons  when  the  Black- 
Valley  Railroad  is  doing  the  most  profitable 
business.  The  invalid  -  trains  are  fitted  up 
with  special  accommodations  for  the  class  of 
ti-avellers  who  patronize  them.  Seats  and 
sleeping  -  apartments  are  so  constructed  that 
travellers  are  made  as  comfortable  as  possible, 
especially  during  the  first  part  of  the  journey : 
indeed,  some  are  made  so  happy,  that  they 
sing  and  dance  as  the  train  bears  them  along  ; 
and  it  is  reported  that  some  have  been  so  happy 
that  they  leaped  from  the  train.  These  acci- 
dents have  commonly  happened  at  or  near 
Idiot  Flats  ;  when  the  condition  of  travellers  is 
frequently  such,  that  they  are  ready  for  the 
most  daring  feats. 

Pei'sons  who   have  given  attention   to   the 


30  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

matter  are  of  the  opinion  that  multitudes  of 
those  that  are  thrown  out  of  the  trains  alono- 
the  track  of  tlie  road  are  thrown  from  tlie 
invalid-trains,  all  of  which  start  from  Medi- 
clneville.  It  is  a  noticeable  fact,  too,  in  regard 
to  travellers  from  this  village,  that  they  appear 
less  healthful  as  they  advance  on  the  road ; 
and  that,  while  they  think  their  excursions  are 
improving  their  health,  the  evidence  becomes 
abundant  that  health  is  departing  just  in  pro- 
portion to  the  speed  of  the  trains  in  which  they 
travel. 

Another  noticeable  thing  about  the  invalid- 
trains  is,  that  travellers  often  have  the  com- 
pany of  their  physicians.  Some  of  these  travel- 
ling pliysicians  are  also  large  stockholders  in 
the  road,  and  have  built  splendid  country-seats 
in  Medicinevllle  out  of  their  profits  on  the  sale 
of  tickets  to  invalids.  In  some  cases,  vast  for- 
tunes have  been  suddenly  accumulated  in  this 
way.    Amoiig  the  numerous  conspicuous  build- 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  31 

ings  in  Medicineville  is  one,  over  the  pTincipal 
entrance  of  which  is  painted  in  large  characters 
S-T  1860  X.  The  proprietors  of  this  establish- 
ment have  succeeded  by  their  enterprise  in  en- 
ticing multitudes  to  purchase  excursion-tickets, 
many  of  which  have  taken  the  purchasers  to 
M'wt  Flat8,  and  even  to  the  "  great  bonfire  "  at 
the  lower  terminus  of  the  road.  The  success  of 
this  establishment  has  led  many  others  to  re- 
move to  Medicineville,  and  establish  themselves 
in  the  same  line  of  business. 

TIPPLETON 

is  the  third  great  dep3t  upon  the  Black  -  Valley 
Road.  Its  vicinity  to  Slppington  and  31edi- 
cineville,  and  the  similarity  of  its  social  customs, 
have  perpetuated  a  friendly  intercourse  between 
the  inhabitants  of  the  two  places.  So  great  is 
the  similarity  of  the  places,  that  the  traveller  is 
not  always  aware  when  he  passes  from  one  to 
the  other ;  and  the  inhabitants  themselves  seem 


32  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

not  to  be  awai'e  of  the  exact  place  of  the  boun- 
dary-line. Along  this  line  they  are  continually 
intermingling,  and  keeping  up  the  most  friendly 
intercourse  ;  and  it  is  not  until  the  traveller  has 
,  got  into  the  midst  of  the  place  that  he  is  made 
aware  of  his  progress.  At  the  centre  of  the 
town  the  faces  of  the  inhabitants  begin  to  put 
on  a  fiery  hue,  and  the  tongue  to  give  forth  its 
utterance  with  a  peculiar  glibness.  Here,  too, 
the  people  begin  to  have  an  unsatisfied  and 
thirsty  look  ;  and  drinking-saloons  arrest  atten- 
tion in  all  the  streets.  To  and  from  these  sa- 
loons the  people  are  continually  thronging,  and 
especially  in  the  evening;  at  which  time  young 
men  in  multitudes  are  seen  gathering,  as  if 
some  charm  were  drawing  them  thither.  Upon 
the  outskirts  of  this  place  ai-e  located  numerous 
breweries,  which  send  up  a  continuous  cloud 
of  smoke,  which,  mingling  with  the  miasmas  of 
the  neighboring .fewineyards,  impart  an  impurity 
to  the  air  which  is  verv  detrimental  to  health, 


A  SippingLon  gentleman  rebukes  a  Topersville  man  for 
traveling  on  the  Black  Valley  lload,  who  replies,  "only  a 
little  ahead  of  you,  sir."    p.  33. 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  33 

r 

in  many  cases  laying  the  foundation  of  the 
most  fatal  diseases. 

A  noticeable  peculiarity  of  this  place  is,  that 
the  people  generally  deny  the  name  of  their 
town,  and  contend  that  they  belong  within  the 
limits  of  Fountainland ;  inasmuch  as  they  use 
all  the  good  things  of  God  temperately,  and  with 
thanJcsgiving,  as  all  grateful  people  should,  who 
enjoy  so  many  blessings  from  their  breweries 
and  drinhing-saloons. 

TOPERSVILLE 

is  the  fourth  place  of  importance  in  the  Black- 
Valley  Country.  The  appearance  of  the  place 
distinguishes  it  at  once  from  the  places  above  it 
on  the  Great  Central  Road.  The  faces  of  the 
inhabitants  look  fiery  and  fierce ;  the  eye  is 
red  and  inflamed,  as  if  continued  watching 
without  sleep  were  the  business  of  the  people  ; 
the  tongue,  too,  moves  irregularly,  clipping  its 
words  into  all  manner  of  abbreviations,  and  mov- 


34  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

ing  with  surprising  speed  and  volubility,  so  that 
with  the  utmost  care  it  is  often  impossible  to 
extract  any  meaning  from  the  flood  of  words 
which  is  poured  forth.  The  principal  char- 
acteristic of  this  place  is  the  number  of  its 
taverns  and  other  liquor-selling  establishments. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

Drunkard's  Curve  the  last  Stopping-Tlace  of 
the  Trains.  —  Through  Tickets.  —  JEJxpress- 
Tralns.  —  Alarmists  with  !2ied  JFlags.  — 
Travellers  leaving  the  Trains.  —  Mr.  Kon- 
shunts  throws  Arrows  Into  the  Sleeping- 
cars.  —  Old  Soy  on  the  Engine. 


DRUNKARD  S   CURVE 

?S  tlie  last  stopping-place  -upon  the 
road.  The  annual  number  of  arri- 
vals at  this  place  is  estimated  at 
six  hundred  thousand.*  Here  the  long  trains  for 
the  through  route  are  all  made  up;  and  all 
who  do  not  leave  the  cars  at  or  before  they 
arrive  at  this  place  are  understood  to  be  ticketed 
for  the  end  of  the  road. 


*  U.  S.  Branch. 


i$ 


36  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

At  this  point  all  the  branches  of  the  Black- 
Valley  Road  make  their  junction  for  the  great 
through  routes.  These  branches  are  construct- 
ed from  the  outskirts  of  Sippington,  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  its  rapidly-inci'easing  popula- 
tion. They  run  nearly  parallel  to  the  main 
road,  coming  together  at  this  junction.  Here 
the  through  express-trains  are  made  up,  and 
passengers  begin  to  take  their  through  tickets; 
and  it  is  found  that  most  persons  who  come  to 
this  place  go  on  to  the  end  of  the  road,  unless 
their  money  fails  so  that  they  cannot  maintain 
the  style  "of  genteel  travellers,  when  they  are 
thrown  out  by  the  conductors  at  Beggarstown 
and  other  places  upon  the  road.  At  this  junc- 
tion immense  quantities  of  freight  and  bag- 
gage are  taken  in.  The  excitement  which 
arises  from  the  coming- together  of  so  many 
travellers  seems  to  create  a  good  fellowship» 
which  is  found  to  be  favorable  to  the  sale  of 
through  tickets,  and  also  to  the  obtaining  of 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  37 

freight  and  baggage  for  the  road.  In  the  good 
cheer  that  prevails,  travellers  sometimes  dispose 
of  every  thing  that  they  possess,  exchanging  it 
for  whole  packages  of  tickets,  to  be  given  away 
even  to  strangers,  if  they  will  consent  to  travel 
in  company  with  them.  By  this  social  influ- 
ence, many  are  persuaded  to  continue  their 
travels  who  otherwise  would  be  persuaded  to 
return  by  the  Fountainland  stages,  which  are 
always  stationed  at  this  place.  Many,  too, 
who  have  never  travelled  on  this  road  are  per- 
suaded by  the  strong  social  influences  of  the 
place,  and  the  good  companionship  of  travellers, 
to  go  into  the  saloons  of  the  trains ;  where  they 
sometimes  find  themselves  moving  in  a  direction 
that  they  had  not  intended,  and  at  length,  when 
too  late,  learn  that  they  are  ticketed  for  the 
Black  -  Valley  Country .  By  this  social  influence, 
the  great  company  of  gamblers,  who  are  au- 
thorized frei(rht-ao;ents  and  baffffaore-masters  of 
the  road,  are  able  to  carry  on  to  great  advantage 


38  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY, 

their  operations,  in  connection  with  which  vast 
quantities  of  baggage,  as  well  as  its  owners,  are 
taken  in  for  the  through  route. 
-  The  curve  which  the  road  makes  at  this 
point  is  very  sharp,  and  runs  along  the  edge  of 
a  frightful  chasm,  into  which  whole  trains  are 
often  thrown  as  they  sweep  around  this  sudden 
bend.  Here  begin  to  be  seen  the  bruised  and 
wounded  and  dead  that  have  been  thrown  out 
of  the  trains  which  have  gone  down  over  the 
road. 

Soon  after  leaving  this  station,  the  trains 
plunge  into  a  horrible  thicket,  from  which 
wolfish  faces  are  seen  peering  out;,  and  huge 
serpents  are  seen  coiling  around  the  mutilated 
bodies  of  those  which  have  been  thrown  out 
along  the  road.  Beyond,  the  country  looks 
black  and  stormy  ;  so  that  travellers  who  have 
come  down  to  this  place  sometimes  become 
alarmed,  and  are  often  persuaded  to  leave  the 
trains. 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  39 

For  the  accommodation  of  this  class  of  trav- 
ellers, a  line  of  stages  to  all  the  villages  in 
Fountainland  has  been  established.  The  pro- 
prietors of  these  stages  have  established  this 
line  from  purely  benevolent  motives,  and  offer 
a  free  pass  to  a11  travellers  ;  and,  in  order  the 
more  effectually  to  secure  patronage,  they  em- 
ploy a  large  number  of  persons  to  alarm  travel- 
lers, and  persuade  them  to  abandon  this  road. 
Flag-men  are  stationed  here,  who  keep  up  a 
continual  waving  of  flags  in  the  daytime,  and 
of  colored  lights  in  the  night.  Upon  some  of 
the  flags  very  significant  mottoes  are  printed, 
such  as  "  Smaslvup  ahead  !  "  "  Drawbridge 
up  !  "  "  Leap  for  your  lives  !  "  &c.  While  these 
flag-men  are  displaying  their  flags  and  red 
lights,  they  are  in  the  habit  of  calling  with  loud 
voices,  and  blowing  trumpets,  and  ringing  bells 
as  the  trains  approach,  so  as  to  alarm  all  pas- 
sengers, by  warning  them  of  their  danger,  and 
especially  for  the  purpose  of  waking  up  any 
who  may  be  sleeping. 


40  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

On  account  of  these  demonstrations  hy  the 
stage-men,  a  conflict  is  sometimes  brought  on 
between  them  and  the  conductors  and  stock- 
holders of  tlie  road.  The  Black  -Valley  Road- ' 
men  complain  that  the  stage-men  are  interfering 
with  their  business.  Thej  call  them  noisy 
fanatics,  and  disturbers  of  peaceful  and  inoffen- 
sive travellers,  who  have  a  right  to  travel  un- 
disturbed where  and  on  what  road  they  please. 
Mr.  Konshunts,  an  old  enemy  to  the  road,  is 
particularly  offensive  to  the  Black- Valley  men 
at  this  place,  and  all  the  stations  above.  Com- 
plaint is  made  that  his  voice  sometimes  shakes 
the  whole  train,  and  makes  men  jump  from  a 
sound  sleep,  and  is  particularly  offensive  to 
passengers  in  the  sleeping-cars,  who  are  made 
to  dream  that  their  pillows  are  thunderbolts. 
The  stockholders  especially  complain  that  his 
voice  is  insufferable,  and  that  all  quiet  «leep  is 
impossible  while  he  is  permitted  to  keep  up  his 
noise.     They  complain,  too,  that  he  has  darts ; 


A  Black  Valley  Railroad  gentleman  on  recefving  a  note 
invitiug  him  to  a  free  ride  in  tlie  Fountainland  Stage, 
maizes  au  earnest  speecli  about  the  meddlesome  fanatics. 

p.  40. 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  41 

which  he  frequently  throws  into  the  trains  in 
such  a  careless  way  that  gentlemen  of  wealth 
and  the  highest  standing  are  sometimes  badly 
wounded.  Ofi  account'  of  this  annoyance, 
several  attempts  have  been  made  to  dispose  of 
him,  and  get  lu'm  out  of  the  way. 

Bribes  liave  been  offered;  and,  when  they 
have  been  rejected,  they  have  attempted  to  drug 
him,  and  so  quiet  his  noise.  Free  rides  on  the 
road  in  good  company,  —  as  they  call  it,  —  and 
a  free  use  of  the  good  things  in  the  saloon,  have 
been  offered.  In  some  cases,  they  blindfolded 
him,  so  that  he  could  not  see  plainly  which 
way  the  cars  ^ere  going.  In  this  condition  of 
things,  they  attempted  to  persuade  him  that 
they  Avere  running  up  trains  on  the  road,  and 
transporting  sick  people  on  excursions  for 
health.  In  this  way  he  was  sometimes  kept 
quiet  for  a  time;  but  when  the  blindfold  fell 
off,  so  that  he  could  see  which  way  the  trains 
were  moving,  and  discovered  that  they  all  went 


42  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

down,  and  none  up,  he  would  set  up  his  noise 
with  redoubled  energy,  so  that  passengers 
sometimes  thought  that  a  thunder-storm  was 
gatherino;. 

"  What  do  you  tliink  you  shall  accomplish 
by  your  everlasting  clamor  and  noise  ?  "  said  a 
Black- Valley  man  to  Mr.  Konshunts,  calling  to 
him  from  'a  splendid  tfaiu  which  was  passing 
by.  "  Do  you  think  you  can  stop  us,  or  throw 
our  trains  from  the  track  ?  Do  you  think  that 
a  business  out  of  which  vast  fortunes  are  made, 
and  by  Avhich  multitudes  are  raised  from  pover- 
ty to  affluence,  will  be  abandoned  on  account 
of  such  slight  annoyances  as  yqu  are  able  to 
practise  upon  us  ?  Will  the  multitude  of  trav- 
ellers, many  of  whom  are  sleeping  quietly  in 
the  cars  that  have  been  provided  for  their  com- 
fort, thank  you  for  rousing  them  from  their 
pleasant  slumbers?  ^'  ^')fTJikl%^..l^' 
^'^  I  am  not  certain,"  replied  ^Iv.  Konshunts, 
"  that    I    shall    accomplish    any    thing   by  my 


JBLACK-VALLET  RAILROAD.  43 

clamor  and  noise,  as  you  call  it;  and  I  am 
aware  that  the  conductors  and  stockholders  of 
your  road,  and  many  of  the  travellers  upon  it, 
are  not  in  the  habit  of  regarding  my  noise  ;  but 
I  must  do  my  duty  '^  this  matter.  The  num- 
ber of  my  friends,  too,  is  rapidly  increasing ;  and 
■\ve  are  determined  to  do  wliat  we  can  to  pre- 
vent travel  upon  your  road.  In  former  times, 
we  persuaded  multitudes  to  quit  it,  and  take 
our  stages  ;  and  these  multitudes  poured  bless- 
inors  upon  us  for  what  we  did  for  them.  Upon 
the  banks  of  the  beautiful  river  to  which  our 
stages  run,  we  built  up  a  great  city,  which 
abounded  in  schools  and  churches  and  wealth 
and  comfort,  and  became  at  length  one  of  the 
wonders  of  the  world.  Whole  families  which 
left  your  road  in  rags  and  wretchedness  went 
to  that  city,  and  built  them  houses,  and  lived  in 
comfort  and  respectability.  Many  of  them  not 
only  left  your  road,  but  they  left  that  '  broad 
road'  by  the  side  of  which   yours  runs,  and 


44  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

have  gone  to  the  city  through  wliich  runs  the 
river  of  the  water  of  Life,  clear  as  crystal, 
proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  the 
Lamb. 

"  In  view  of  our  great  anccess  Avhen  we  first 
began  our  remonstrance  and  clamor  ajiainst 
your  road,  we  propose  to  renew  it  with 
redoubled  energy.  A  great  cloud  of  witnesses, 
made  up  of  those  who  were  saved  by  us,  now 
call  us  to  renew  our  efforts  to  persuade  travel- 
lers to  leave  it,  and  take  our  stages  to  that 
river  upon  the  banks  of  which  is  built  that 
beautiful  city,  which  proved  a  city  of  refuge  to 
so  many  who,  at  our  call,  abandoned  for- 
ever your  road.  I  shall,  therefore,"  said  Mr. 
Konshunts  in  conclusion,  "  continue  to  keep  up 
what  you  call  my  clamor  and  noise.  I  shall 
also  throw  my  darts  among  you  ;  and,  though  I 
know  that  many  of  you  are  harnessed  in  the 
hardest  mail,  I  shall  hope  that  some  of  them 
will  pierce  the  joints  in  your  harness.     At  all 


BLACK -VALLEY  EAILROAD.  45 

jX)ints  upon  the  road  you  will  hear  my  voice,  if 
you  have  ears  to  hear ;  and,  if  you  have  not,  I 
am  sure  you  will  feel  some  of  my  darts ;  for 
they  will  he  sharper  and  more  numerous  as 
you  proceed.  At  Jlometsnest  Thicket,  that 
place  on  your  road  where  sleep  is  so  apt  to 
forsake  all  travellers,  I  shall  shower  my 
arrows  thick  and  fast,  and  so  barbed  that  some 
of  you  will  exclaim,  "  The  arrows  of  the 
Almighty  arc  within  me,  the  poison  whereof 
drinketli  up  my  spirit;"  for  that  is  the  place 
where  I  am  especially  commissioned  to  meet 
you  with  messages  from  him  whose  servant  I 
am.  At  Screech-Owl  Forest,  too,  you  will 
Jiear  my  voice  ;  which  I  am  sure  will  be  a 
dreadful  sound  in  your  ears,  as  the  ill-boding 
birds  of  that  dismal  place  are  in  league  with 
me  against  your  business,  and  will  sing  to  you 
in  tones  that  will  drive  sleep  far  away.  At 
Thunderland  also  you  will  hear  my  voice'; 
wliich  will  remind  you  of  the  '  harsh  thunder  * 


4G  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

of  the  gates  of  that  prison  towards  which  you 
are  carrying  your  victims.  At  Stormland,  too, 
you  will  hear  it,  as  if  a  thousand  storms  were 
speaking  to  you  in  voices  of  warning  and 
remonstrance,  and  pouring  hailstones  and  coals 
of  fire  upon  you.  At  Whirlwind  Crossing  I 
shall  roar  in  your  ears,  and  make  all  your 
trains  tremble  as  they  labor  on  towards  their 
plunge  into  the  great  gulf  at  the  end  of  the 
road. 

When  Mr.  Konshunts  had  concluded  his 
speech,  the  Black- Valley  man  "  grinned  horri- 
bly, a  ghostly  smile,"  saying,  "I  wonder  if  that 
old  croaker  thinks  he  shall  frighten  us  while  mov- 
ing on  in  this  splendid  train  ?  I  wish  he  would 
lay  himself  across  the  track,  and  try  to  stop  us 
in  that  way,  instead  of  throwing  these  arrows." 
And,  calling  to  the  fireman,  they  said,  "  Stir  up 
the  fire,  '  old  boy  ! '  and  let  us  be  getting  but  of 
the-  noise  of  this  old  tormenter,  who  has  been 
troubling  us   all   the   way  to  this   place,   and 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD. 


47 


whose  arrows  are  beginning  to  fall  in  showers 
along  the  track,  and  who  intimates  to  us  that 
the  very  forces  of  nature  are  in  league  with 
him  against  our  business." 


CHAPTER   V. 


JVolcd  Places  in  the  ^lack-Yaltey  Coutitry 
w?uch  hare  been  built  up  and  are  kept  in 
a  Flourishing  Condition  by  the  ISnierprise 
of  the  mack-Valley  Railroad. 

ROWDYVILLE 

|S  situated  upon  the  outskirts  of  the 
great  Black- Valley  Forest,  which  ex;- 
tends  from  Drunkard's  Curve  to  the 
lower  LouTidary  of  the  country.  This  forest 
is  remarkable  for  the  fact,  that  none  of  its  trees 
seem  to  be  standing  erect.  Fallen  and  falling 
trees  are  the  first  objects  noticed  ;  and,  as  the 
observer  draws  near,  his  attention  is  arrested 
by  the  coiling  of  huge  serpents  around  the 
young  trees,  many  of  which  seem  to  be  bend- 
ing and  breaking.     Hungry  and  wolfish  faces, 

48 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  49 

too,  can  be  seen  peering  out  from  what  seems 
to  be  a  thorn-hedge,  extending  along  the  edge 
of  the  forest. 

As  the  trains  of  the  Black- Valley  Road 
enter  this  forest,  these  hungry  faces  seem  to 
be  lighted'  up  with  a  smile,  as  if  the  trains 
were  bringing  something  to  appea:se  the  hunger 
which  they  indicate.  The  bending  of  the 
young  trees,  too,  as  if  a  strong  wind  were  blow- 
ing among  their  tops,  indicates  unusual  activity 
amonct  the  causes  which  are  known  to  bend 
and  break  down  so  many  of  th^ir  number. 
These  indications  impart  a  peculiar  gloominess 
and  terror  to  the  forest ;  so  much  so,  that  none 
can  be  persuaded  to  enter  it  except  travellers 
upon  the  Black -Valley  Road.  To  them  is 
imparted  a  courage  which  seems  to  be  the 
result  of  their  travel ;  and  the  serpents  whose 
coils  are  bending  the  trees,  and  the  hungry 
monsters  that  are  feeding  upon  the  half-dead 
bodies  that  have  been  thrown  from  the  trains, 

4 


50  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

seem  not  to  alarm  them :  indeed,  at  times 
they  appear  to  be  pleased  with  what  they  see 
around  them,  and  to  admire  their  own  courage 
and  strength  of  mind  in  being  able  to  witness 
these  things  without  fear. 

The  £rst  indication  of  the  approach  of  the 
train  to  Rowdyville  is  a  confused  noise,  which 
can  be  heard  at  a  considerable  distance.  This 
noise  grows  louder  as  the  trains  approach,  and 
is  soon  discovered*  to  be  the  noise  of  a  great 
multitude  in  a  row.  As  the  trains  shoot  by 
this  place,  some  are  always  throw^n  out  of  the 
saloons  of  the  cars  for  becoming  disorderly 
and  making  disturbance  and  noise.  These 
ejected  passengers  make  up  the  great  multitude 
whose  noise  is  heard  as  the  trains  enter  the 
Black -Valley  Forest.  A  large  proportion  of 
them  are  young  men ;  whose  money  having 
failed,  and  whose  friends  at  the  bar  of  the 
saloon  having  also  failed,  have  been  given  to 
understand  that  their  room  is  now  better  than 
their  company. 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  51 

As  they  have  struck  the  ground  at  the 
place  of  their  ejection,  many  of  them  have 
been  made  to  feel  such  a  sense  of  their 
whereabouts  as  to  fill  them  with  anger  at 
the  conductors  of  the  road ;  and  it  not  unfre- 
quently  happens,  that  the  curses  of  the  whole 
multitude  are  poured  upon  the  road  and  its 
mana<Ters  for  having  brought  them  to  this 
place. 

FIGHTINGTON 

has  a  large  population  ;  and,  were  it  n6t  fb^the 
absence  of  all  uniform  and  the  very  unmilitary 
walk  of  its  inhabitants,  they  would  be  taken 
for  old  soldiers  just  returned  from  many  hard- 
fouo-ht  battles.  Tlie  wounds  of  these  people 
seem  to  be  mostly  about  their  eyes  ;  where  the 
settled  blood  indicates  concussions  of  much 
severitv,  as  if  the  bricks  from  the  sidewalks 
had  leaped  from  tlieir  places,  and  struck  them 
in  the  head.     In  some  cases,  huge  gashes,  in  the 


62  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

face  indicate  that  severe  battles  have  been 
fought  with  the  curb-stones ;  which  it  is  sup- 
posed have  attacked  them  when  tliey  were 
ejected  from  the  trains  that  brouglit  them  to 
this  place.  Sometimes  scratches  upon  the  face 
indicate  that  the  fighting  has  been  of  a  domes- 
tic character,  and  that  the  wives  of  these  men 
have  entered  the  lists  with  such  weapons  as 
have  been  convenient  for  self-defence.  It  is 
related  of  one  of  the  inhabitants,  that  he  was 
attacked  by  the  pump,  while  on  his  way  home 
in  the  night,  and  that  the  handle  of  the  pump 
struck  him  severely  on  the  head  ;  whereupon  he 
turned  upon  the  pump,  and  gave  it  such  pun- 
ishment with  his  fists,  that  the  pump  bore 
marks  of  blood  for  many  weeks  afterwards. 

BROTHELTON 

is  situated  on  an  extensive  lake  of  black  mire 
near  the  Black- Valley  Railroad,  called  Debauch 
Slough.     When  approached,  it  has  the  appear- 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  53 

ance  of  a  placid  sea ;  upon  the  shores  of  Avhich 
the  eye  seems  to  discover  pleasant  arbors  and 
flowery  groves.       This    slough   extends   along 
the  track  of  the  road  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see. 
At  the  head  of  tlie   slouch  no  current  can  be 
perceived  ;  but,  farther  down,  a  stwjng  current 
is    revealed,  which,  flowing    more   and   more 
rapidly,   at  lengtii  bears  every  thing  before  it. 
As  this  current  sweeps  on,  it  forms  whirlpools 
and  eddies,  and  at  length  plunges  iiito  a  deep 
gorge,  over  which  hang  mists  and  clouds  that 
no   eye  can  penetrate.     Deceived  by  appear- 
a;nces,   multitudes  who   come   down  upon  the 
Black- Valley  Road  are  persuaded  to  embark  in 
pursuit  of  pleasure  upon  this  dangerous   sea; 
and,  ere  they  arc  aware,  its  eddies  and  cur- 
rents   bear    them    rapidly    along    toward    the 
boiling  chasm,  into  which   the  turbid  waters 
plunge  at  the  lower  terminus  of  the  lake.     Of 
the  numbers  that  are  destroyed  at  this  slough 
no  accurate  estimate  can  be  made  j  though  it  is 


54  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

well  ascertained  that  the  average  length  of  the 
life  of  pleasure-seekers  here  is  three  and  a  half 
years,  and  that  the  deaths  which  they  die  are 
sad, and  terrible,  for  tliat  "they  mourn  at  the 
last,  when  the  flesh  and  the  body  are  con- 
sumed."" It  is  also  asserted  upon  the  highest 
authority,  that  "  none  that  go  there  return 
again,  neither  take  they  hold  on  the  path  of 
life  ;  "  yea,  that  it  is  "  the  way  to  hell,  going 
down  to  the  chambers  of  death." 

A  great  king  once  embarked  upon  this 
slough  ;  and  the  remembrance  of  it  caused  him 
much  sufFerin<T  during  his  whole  life.  When 
he  felt  himself  going  down,  he  cried,  "  I  sink 
in  deep  mire,  where  there  is  no  standing ;  " 
and,  when  he  was  saved,  he  rewarded  the  deed 
of  kindness  with  an  overflowing  heart,  saying, 
*'  He  sent  from  above :  he  took  me  ;  he  drew 
me  out  of  many  waters."  As  soon  as  he  was 
lifted  from  the  slough,  he  exclaimed,  "  Wash 
me  thoroughly ;  "  "  Purge  me  with  hyssop  :  '* 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  55 

and,  from   that  time  henceforth,  he  seems  to 
have  had  a  horror  of  that  place. 

BEQGARSTOWN. 

Tills  is  one  of  the  largest  places  upon  the 
road.  The  number  of  its  inhabitants  is  esti- 
mated at  four  hundred  thousand;  and  the 
number  is  constantly  kept  good  by  the  Black- 
Valley  Road,  all  of  whose  trains  throw  out 
more  or  less  at  this  place,  as  they  pass.  Some 
of  those  that  are  thrown  out  are  in  a  most 
shocking  condition.  In  all  cases  they  come 
down  in  rags  and  wretchedness,  being  destitute 
of  clothing  and  food.  In  many  cases  they  are 
sick  from  their  long  and  uncomfortable  rides 
and.  destitution  of  food,  as  only  liquor  can  be 
procured  at  the  saloons  in  the  trains,  and  that 
of  a  quality  very  detrimental  to  health.  In 
other  cases  those  who  are  thrown  out  are  badly 
wounded,  and  need  the  most  careful  attendance 
to  keep  them  alive.     In  some  cases  they  sur- 


56  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

vive  tlieir  fall  but  a  short  time,  so  great  is  the 
shock  as  thej  strike  the  ground.  This  shock 
is  greater  to  those  who  have  formcrlj  lived  in 
affluence,  and  who  have  come  down  on  the 
road  in  the  splendid  express-trains.  They  had^ 
no  thought  of  going  to  this  place  when  they 
took  the  cars  at  Sippington  ;  and,  as  they  have 
been  carried  along,  they  have  had  no  idea  of 
their  progress,  or  even  the  direction  in  which 
they  were  going,  until  they  began  to  feel  the 
iron  liands  of  the  conductors  as  they  were 
thrown  from  the  trains.  As  they  woke  to  a 
realization  of  their  condition,  and  the  destitu- 
tion and  horror3  of  the  place,  and  a  sense  of 
the  great  change  which  had  come  over  them  as 
memory  went  back  to  the  time  of  their  pros- 
perity, it  has  seemed  as  if  they  would  sink 
down  in  death. 

One  of  the  most  painful  things  witnessed  at 
this  d^pOt  of  the  Black  -Valley  Road  .is  the 
number  of  children  who  are  brought  along  in 


A  Family  Scene  near  Beggarstown.  A  father  Is  going 
to  sell  the  children's  pet  lamb  for  tickets  on  tho  Black  Yalley 
Eoad.— p.  07. 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  57 

the  arms  of  their  parents,  and  flung  out  with 
them  at  this  point.  These  children  are  often 
very  promising ;  and  as  thej  grow  up,  and  come 
at  length  to  see  where  they  are,  and  to  know 
what  brought  them  there,  they  have  a  sense  of 
injury  done  to  them  which  stings  them  to  the 
quick. 

"  Mother,"  said  a  bright  Httle  girl,  who  was 
calling  to  mind  the  pleasant  scenes  of  better 
days,  —  "  Mother,  how  came  we  in  this  horrible 
place  ?  Why  did  we  not  continue  to  live  in 
the  beautiful  house  which  we  occupied  at 
Fpuntainland,  when  we  were  all  happy,  and 
had  enough  to  eat  and  drink  and  wear  ?  Why 
did  we  leave  that  pleasant  country,  where  I 
went  to  school  and  to  the  house  of  God, 
where  pleasant  friends  called  to  see  us  at  our 
own  house,  and  seemed  to  respect  and  love  us 
so  much  ?  O  mother  !  I  am  distressed  as  I  go 
around  this  dreary  place,  and  see  so  many  in 
rags,    and    hear    so   many  people   crying  for 


58  BLACK -VALLEt  COUNTRY. 

bread.  I  feel  like  crying  too  ;  not  only  because 
I  pity  them,  but  because  I  feel  hunger  and  desti- 
tution myself:  and  I  cannot  but  feel  that  there 
is  some  great  wrong  in  my  being  here.  What 
have  I  done  that  my  former  playmates  should 
now  despise  me,  and  refuse  to  be  my  compan- 
ions? I  remember  I  once  had  good  clothes 
and  shoes,  now  only  a  ragged  dress  and  a  torn 
bonnet  and  bare  feet.  O  mother  !  do  tell  me 
about  this,  and  let  me  go  back  to  the  place  from 
wliich  we  have  moved  I  " 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  speech,  the  mother 
was  sobbing  as  if  her  heart  would  break ;  and 
the  tears  fell  like  showers,  coursing  down  over 
her  careworn  face. 

"  O  my  child  I "  she  replied,  amid  sobs  of 
grief,  "  I  cannot  tell  you  all  about  the  cause  of 
our  coming  to  this  place,  and  what  has  hap- 
pened to  us  on  our  way  here.  You  love  your 
father ;  and  it  would  break  your  heart  to  know 
all  about  what  lias  happened  to  our  family.     I 


SLACK -VALLET  RAILROAD.  59 

can  only  tell  you,  that  you  and  I  and  all  of  us 
came  to  this  place  on  that  dreadful  road  which  has 
brought  so  many  besides  us  here  also.  Near  to 
our  beautiful  house  was  a  fashionable  d^p6t  on 
that  road.  Your  father  was  tempted  to  travel 
on  that  road  ;  ^nd  the  result  is,  we  are  all  here. 
We  are  a  family,  and  could  not  be  separated, 
and  can  only  look  to  God  for  help  in  our  great 
trouble.  We  are  suffering  for  that  for  which  we 
are  not  to  blame  ;  and  I  am  sure  the  conductors 
and  stockholders  of  the  road  that  has  brought 
us  here  will  have  a  dreadful  account  to  render 
by  and  by.  I  think  they  will  pray  for  the 
rocks  -and  mountains  to  fall  on  them,  for  keep- 
ing up  that  road  which  brought  your  father,  and 
all  of  us,  and  all  these  poor  children  and  their 
fathers,  down  into  this  Black  Valley." 

In  order  to  convey  those  who  are  thrown 
out  from  the  numerous  daily  trains  to  the 
buildings  prepared  for  their' reception,  a  large 
number  of  ambulances  is  required.      On  the 


60  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

arrival  of  the  trains,  these  ambulances  are 
driven  to  the  great  ddpSt ;  and  the  ejected  men, 
women,  and  children  are  gathered  up.  Some- 
times strinfTS  of  ambulances  extendino-  more 
than  ten  miles  are  seen  moving  from  the  ddp8t. 
The  number  of  attendants,  includinsj  nurses  and 
physicians,  is  many  thousands.  The  annual 
cost  of  maintaining  this  vast  establishment  is 
twenty-seven  millions  of  _  dollars,  for  which  a  tax 
is  levied  upon  the  whole  community. 

PRISONTON. 

The  appearance  of  this  place,  when  seen  at 
a  distance,  is  like  that  of  a  fortified  city. 
Walls  of  solid  granite,  upon  the  top  of  which 
sentinels  are  continually  moving  to  and  fro, 
extend  quite  around  the  place.  Were  it  not 
for  the  grated  appearance  of  the  embrasures, 
and  the  not  very  military  movement  of  the 
sentinels,  strangers  in  approaching  would  take 
it  for  a  vast  fortification,  large  enough  for  the 


BLACK -VALLEY  BAILROAD.  61 

encampment  and  manoeuvring  of  an  army. 
The  population  of  the  place  is  estimated  at  one 
hundred  thousand.  The  number  residing  here 
is  continually  varying,  as  the  business  of  the 
Black- Valley  Railroad  is  prosperous  or  other- 
wise :  indeed,'  the  road  may  be  said  to  have 
built  the  place,  as  full  three-fourths  of  its  popu- 
lation have  come  down  to  the  place  upon  it. 
It  is  known,  too,  that,  when  any  branch  of  the 
aforesaid  road  is  for  any  reason  -obstructed,  the 
population  of  the  place  decreases  according  to 
the  decrease  of  the  business  of  the  road. 
When  the  trumpeters  of  which  we  have 
spoken  aroused  the  people  of  Fountainland  to 
attack  and  demolish  the  great  ddpOt  at  Sipping- 
ton,  and  tear  up  the  track  of  the  road,  this 
place  was  the  principal  sufferer.  Whole  pre- 
cincts in  the  place  were  for  a  time  almost  de- 
serted. In  one  section,  known  as  the  Maine 
precinct,  it  was  ascertained  that  the  stopping 
of  tlie  trains  of  the  Black- Valley  Road  for  a 


62  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

short  lime  was  followed  by  a  great  decrease  of 
population :  so  much  so,  that  many  lodging- 
houses  and  workshops  were  deserted,  and  re- 
mained in  that  condition  until  the  repairing  of 
the  road  and  the  rebuilding  of  the  great  d^pSt 
at  the  head  of  that  branch ;  when  the  place 
began  again  to  be  filled  up  with  travellers,  who 
came  down  in  great  numbers  to  the  old  de- 
serted lodgings  and  workshops. 

The  one  hundred  thousand  men  and  women 
of  the  place  are  furnished  with  lodgings  and  care 
at  the  expense  of  the  government.  They  wear 
a  uniform,  so  as  to  be  distinguished  from  all  out- 
siders and  untravelled  gentlemen  not  belonging 
to  their  school ;  so  that  they  can  be  easily  found, 
in  case  they  play  truant. 

A  system  of  instruction  is  continually  carried 
on,  every  thing  in  the  place  having,  reference 
\jo  this.  The  very  architecture  of  the  place  has 
a  voice  which  speaks  continually  to  all  the 
inmates.     The  lofty  corridors  and  symmetrical 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  63 

lodging-rooms,  rising  tier  above  tier ;  the 
grated  windows  ;  the  orderly  movements  ;  the 
footfall  of  sentinels,  walking  to  and  fro  in 
the  dim-lighted  halls ;  the  click  of  the  hammers, 
under  which  the  rude  stones  are  putting  on 
forms  of  beauty ;  the  noise  of  the  workshops, 
where  busy  hands  are  employed  in  useful 
labor ;  and,  above  all,  the  silent  tears  that  may 
often  be  seen  trickling  down  the  faces  of  those 
who  are  at  tlieir  bilsy  toil,  as  if  thoughts  of 
home  and  friends  and  better  days  were  throng- 
ing into  the  soul,  —  all  these  things  are  continu- 
ally imparting  salutary  lessons. 

At  times,  too,  a  solemn  and  silent  lesson 
is  imparted  from  a  platform  erected  for  that 
purpose ;  where  some  inmate,  with  hands 
"  thicker  than  themselves  with  brothers' 
blood,'*  comes  forth  with  surroundings  such  as 
cannot  fail  to  make  an  impression,  and  is 
launched  into  eternity  as  a  warning  to  all 
travellers  upon  the  Black- Valley  Road. 


64  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

DELIRIUMTON  '• 

is  situated  far  down  towards  the  lower  regions  of 
the  Black- Valley  Country.  Its  vicinity  to 
this  lower  boundary  renders  it  constantly 
accessible  to  the  inhabitants  of  that  land  of 
darkness ;  who  frequently  visit  it  in  order  to 
torment  before  their  time  those  who  have 
come  so  near  their  place  of  misery.  The  dis- 
tinguishing characteristic  of  the  place  is,  that 
all  its  inhabitants  seem  to  be  possessed  by 
demons  ;  who  drive  them  into  dens  and  caves, 
lacerate  them  with  wounds,  and  make  them 
a  terror  to  all  around  them.  Snakes  and  mon- 
sters, — 

*'  GorgODB  and  Hydras  and  Chimeras  dirCy" 

seem  to  be  in  pursuit  of  them,  so  that  the  air  is 
always  filled  with  shrieks  of  distress.  Ghosts, 
too,  abound ;  and  the  people  are  always  in  a 
state  of  alarm  lest  something  terrible  should 
happen  to  them.     Many  who  have  come  to  this 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  65 

land  of  horrors  have  been  heard  in  their  wild 
delirium  to  exclaim,  — 

Lost,  lost !  I  know  forever  lost ! 
To  me  no  ray  of  hope  can  come  1 
My  fate  is  sealed ;  my  doom  is  — 
But  give  me  rum  :  I  will  have  rum  I 
But,  doctor,  don't  you  see  Mm  there  ? 
In  that  dark  corner,  low  he  sits. 
See  how  he  sports  his  fiery  tongue, 
And  at  me  burning  brimstone  spits  I 

Go  chase  him  out !  look,  here  he  comes  1 
Now  in  my  bed  he  wants  to  stay :  , 

He  sha'n't  be  there  !     O  Grod  I     O  God  I 
Go  'way,  I  say  1  go  'way,  go  'way  ! 
Quick !  chain  me  fast,  and  tie  me  down  I 
There,  now :  he  clasps  me  in  his  arms  1 
Down,  down  the  window  !  close  it  tight  I 
Say,  don't  you  hear  my  wild  alarms  ? 

Say,  don't  you  see  this  demon  fierce  ? 
Does  no  one  hear  ?    Will  no  one  come  ? 
Oh,  save  me,  save  me  !  I  will  give,  — 
But  rum  1  I  must  have,  will  have,  rum  I 
6 


BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

All !  no-w  he's  gone ;  once  more  I'm  free : 
He,  the  boasting  knave  and  liar,  — 
He  said  that  he  would  take  me  off 
Do\ra  to  —  but  there,  my  bed's  on  fire  1 

Fire  I  water  !  help !  come,  haste  —  I'll  die  1 

Come,  take  me  from  this  burning  bed  I 

The  smoke  !  I'm  choking  ;  cannot  cry ! 

There  now,  it's  catching  at  my  head  1 

But  see  1  again  that  demon's  come  1 

Look  !  there  he  peeps  through  yooder  glass : 

Mark  how  his  burning  eyeballs  flash  1 

How  fierce  he  grins  1  "What  brought  him  back  ? 

There  stands  his  burning  coach  of  fire ! 
He  smiles,  and  beckons  me  to  come 
What  are  those  words  he's  written  there? 
"  In  hell  we'll  never  want  for  rum  !  " 
One  loud,  one  piercing  shriek  was  heard,  — 
One  yell  rang  out  upon  the  air ; 
One  sound,  and  one  alone,  came  forth,  — » 
The  victimis  cry  of  wild  despair. 

Why  longer  wait  ?    I'm  ripe  for  hell : 
A  spirit's  sent  to  bear  me  down. 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  67 

There  in  the  regions  of  the  lost 
I  sure  will  wear  a  Ccry  crown. 
Damned  I  know  without  a  hope  I 
(One  moment  more,  and  then  I'll  come.) 
And  there  I'll  quenoh  my  awful  thirst 
With  boiling,  homing,  fiery  rum.* 

MANIACVILLE 

is  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Deliriumton. 
The  boundary-line  between  the  two  places  haa 
never  been  settled  j  and  travellers  often  pass  from 
one  place  into  the  other  without  being  aware 
of  it.  The  peculiarity  of  the  people  o£  Maniac- 
ville  is,  that  they  are  permanently  settled,  so  that 
they  never  remove  from  the  place  :  whereas 
the  people  of  Deliriumton  are  frequently  car- 
ried to  their  homes  by  the  Fountainland  stages, 
where  they  commonly  remain  during  life,  unless 
some  ticket-broker  of  the  Black- Valley  Road 
persuades   them   to  an  excursion  ;  when  they 

•  By  Joseph  Allison. 


68  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

return  quickly  to  the  place,  sometimes  shooting 
by  it  with  such  speed  that  they  arrive  at 
Maniacville,  where  all  efforts  to  bring  them  back 
are  unavailing,  and  where  they  are  left  to  die 
amid  the  horrors  of  the  place. 

DEMONLAND 

is  situated  in  a  deep  and  gloomy  ravine,  where 
no  ray  of  the  sun  ever  comes.  High  and 
frownino[  mountains  enclose  it  on  all  sides. 
The  mountains  are  entirely  destitute  of  all 
vegetation  ;  and  not  a  flower  can  be  found 
growing  among  tiie  clefts  of  the  rocks.  At 
times  the  winds  can  be  heard  sighing  and  roar- 
in"-  amons  the  crass  of  the  mountains,  sound- 
ing  as  if  fiends  were  shrieking  in  the  air. 
The  continued  absence  of  the  sun's  direct  rays 
imparts  a  peculiar  gloominess  to  the  place. 
The  houses  are  for  the  most  part  in  a  dilapi- 
dated condition,  and  to  the  eye  seem  as  if  they 
liad  received  a  coating  of  black  paint,  so  deep  are 


~^^^X\^ 


A  family  scene  at  Demonlana.  Children  reroonstrating 
with  their  father  against  the  sale  of  their  mother's  clock 
for  tickets  on  the  Black  Valley  Railroad,    p.  69. 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  69 

the  shadows  of  the  clouds  which  float  and  frown 
overhead.  No  smiles  are  ever  seen  in  the  faces 
of  the  inhabitants  ;  and  deeds  of  darkness,  such 
as  no  pen  can  describe  or  imagination  paint,  are 
committed  here.  The  place  seems  to  stand  in 
the  very  precincts  of  hell  ;  and  the  stoutest 
hearts  are  appalled  at  \Yhat  is  seen  and  heard  : 
so  much  so,  that  travellers  on  arriving,  not 
unfrequently  exclaim,  — 

"  Hell  is  «mpty ;   and    all    the    devils  are 
here  I " 


HORNETSNEST   THICKET. 

This  place  has  received  its  name  from  the 
fact,  that  travellers  on  the.  Black- Valley  Road, 
more  especially  stockholders  and  conductors, 
frequently  experience  a  sensation  similar  to 
that  of  a  sting  on  arriving  at  this  point. 
Sometimes  this  sting  is  so  severe,  and  felt  by  so 
many  in  the  train,  that  a  considerable  couimo!- 


70  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

tion  is  produced.  Some  say  that  that  old  tor- 
mentor Konshunts  shoots  poisoned  arrows  into 
thd  train  at  this  place. 

Not  only  those  in  the  trains,  but  old  travel- 
lers who  have  come  down  on  the  road  and 
built  their  country-seats  here,  are  annoyed  in 
the  same  way.  Tliough  some  of  them  live  in 
fine  houses,  and  are  surrounded  with  appear- 
ances of  affluence  and  comfort,  they  seem 
never  to  be  happy.  At  times  they  are  known 
to  start  and  shriek  and  turn  pale,  as  if  stung 
by  some  invisible  messenger. 

In  their  dreams,  too,  they  are  frequently 
disturbed,  and  cry,  "Avaunt,  and  quit  my 
sight !  "  sometimes  waking  in  a  state  of  per- 
spiration and  trembling.  "  Did  I  murder  your 
husband  ?  "  exclaimed  one  in  his  disturbed  sleep. 
"  Did  I  throw  your  family  from  the  train  at 
Beggarstown?  "  "  Did  I  drive  you  from  your 
beautiful  cottage  in  Fountainland,  and  put 
upon  you  these  rags,  and  give  you  that  hag- 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  11 

gard,  careworn  face  ? "  Why  do  you  point 
your  skinny  finger  at  me  ?  I  was  only  fireman 
upon  the  road  on  which  your  husband  trav- 
elled into  the  Black- Valley  Country.  By  my 
engine  I  supported  my  family,  and  accumu- 
lated the  means  of  making  them  comfortable. 
Moreover,  I  have  retired  from  the  business 
in  which  I  accumulated  my  wealth.  And 
have  I  not  fed  the  hungry,  and  given  drink 
to  the  thirsty,  and  taken  in  the  stranger  ? 
Why,  then,  should  I  be  disturbed  and  stung 
by  such  compunctious  visitings  as  yours  ? 

"  Bring  me  to  my  trial,  if  you  will : 
Died  he  not  in  his  bed  ?    Where  should  he  die  ? 
Can  I  make  men  live  whether  they  will  or  no  ? 
Oh  I  torture  me  no  more  :  I  will  confess. 
Alive  again.  .  .  .  . 

Comb  down  his  hair :,  look,  look,  it  stands  uprightj 
Like  lime-twigs  set  to  catch  my  winged  soul  I 
Give  me  some  drink  !  and  bid  the  apothecary 
Bring  me  the  strong  poison  that  I  brought  him." 


72  BLACK-VALLET  COUNTRY. 

IDIOT    FLATS      ' 

is  a  portion  'of  the  Black- Valley  Country 
inhabited  by  a  great  company  of  imbeciles  ;  who 
have  become  such  by  travel  upon  the  Black- 
Valley  Road,  and  who  have  been  ejected  at  this 
place  on  account  of  their  unfitness  for  the 
society  of. their  fellow-beings.  Nearly  all  of 
them  have  come  to  the  place  under  the  delu- 
sion that  excursions  upon '  that  road  were 
favorable  to  health  and  good  cheer.  The  exhil- 
aration produced  by  travel  they  have  mistaken 
for  intellectual  activity ;  the  sparks  .of  the 
engine  they  have  taken  to  be  the  scintillations 
of  their  own  wit ;  and  the  sooty  embers  and 
smoke  they  have  regarded  as  the  bj-illiant  cor- 
ruscations  of  their  genius. 

The  class  of  travellers  who  are  bound  for 
Idiot  Flats  can  easily  be  distinguished  by  their 
appearance  on  the  road.  Their  politeness  is 
sometimes  so  excessive  that  they  fall  down  in 
making  bows ;  while  at  other  times  they  are 


BLACK-7ALLE7  RAILBOAD.  73 

ready  to  fight  everybody  with  whom  they  meet, 
on  account  of  some  fancied  insult.  Their 
vacant  countenances  and  lack-lustre  eyes,  as 
well  as  their  general  deportment,  always  indi- 
cate to  all  who  observe  them  the  place  of  their 
destination. 

Multitudes  of  the  children  of  travellers  on 
the  same. road  are  found  among  the*  inhabitants 
of  the  place,  having  been  born  while  their 
parents  were  at  Topersville  and  other  places 
iipon  the  route. 

GREAT    DESERT 

is  a  section  of  the  Black- Valley  Country 
extending  many  leagues  along  the  track  of  the 
great  thoroughfare  to  the  volcano.  It  is  a  land 
of  drought  and  dust  and  desolation.  Neither 
tree  nor  shrub  nor  any  green  thing  meets  the 
eye  of  the  traveller  over  this  desert  land.  On 
account  of  the  great  drought  and  heat  which 
constantly  prevail,  whirlwinds  are    frequently 


74  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

formed ;  by  which  vast  clouds  of  dust  are 
carried  across  the  desert,  producing  a  condition 
of  the  atmosphere  which  not  unfrequently 
causes  death.  Sometimes  these  whirlwinds  are 
accompanied  with  terrific  storms,  with  hail- 
stones, and  coals  of  fire.  The  population  of  this 
desert  is  made  up  of  Wanderers,  Vagabonds, 
and  Outcasts';  who  have  been  carried  awaj  from 
their  homes  and  families  upon  the  Black- Valley 
Railroad,  and  ejected  at  this  place,  so  far  from 
home  and  friends  that  all  hope  of  their  return 
is  given  up. 

Beyond  Idiot  Flats  and  the  great  desert  lies 
the  Gi'eat  Black  Valley,  —  the  land  of  gloom  and 
darkness  as  darkness  itself,  stretching  far  away 
to  the  region  of  perpetual  storms  ;  where  travel- 
lers learn  when  too  late  that  the  road  upon 
which  they  have  come  down  is  a  branch  of  the 
(5ld  "  Broad  Road,"  which  terminates  at  the  same 
place,  designed  and  constructed  by  the  prince  of 
the  Black- Valley  Country,  to  swell  the  numbers, 


An  emigrant  to  the  Black  Valley  Country  meditatmg 
upon  his  folly,    p.  74. 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  75 

and  hasten  the  speed,  of  travellers  to  his  great 
reception-house  at  the  end  of  the  road  :  where, 
"grinning  horribly  with  ghastly  smiles,"  he 
receives  the  innumerable  company  of  fools 
and  their  companions,  and  those  who  have  led 
them  in  their  ways  of  folly,  to  the  place  pre- 
pared for  them ;  where  tlieir  unavailing  prayers 
for  water,  water,  ai'e  offered  in  a  "  land  where 
no  water  is." 

DEATH    RIVER 

rises  near  the  upper  terminus  of  the  Black- 
Valley  Railroad.  It  has  two  branches,  one  of 
them  rising  in  Sippington^  near  the  boundary- 
line  ;  the  other  in  Medleineville,  directly  .under 
the  d<5p8t  at  that  place.  These,  uniting,  seem  to 
run  in  the  same  direction  with  the  Crystal- 
Water  River.  On  this  account  it  has  been  con- 
tended that  its  general  course  was  nearly  the 
same,  and  that,  as  its  waters  contained  a  certain 
exhilarating  quality,  they  were  to  be  preferred 


76  BLACK -VALLJiY  COUNTRY. 

to  the  waters  of  tlio  aforesaid  stream ;  but 
faitliful  explorations  demonstrated,  that  this 
river  soon  diverges  from  the  one  to  which  it 
seems  to  run  parallel,  at  first  gradually,  but 
soon  rapidly,  until  its  general  course  is  in  the 
opposite  direction.  As  the  river  flows  on,  the 
quality  of  its  waters  is  rapidly  changed ;  until 
at  length  they  become  almost  fatal,  inducing 
malignant  diseases,  and  in  many  instances 
death  itself. 

The  lovers  of  the  waters  of  this  river  have 
taken  much  pains  to  make  them  famous,  and  to 
build  up  villages  upon  its  banks  ;  but  all  these 
attempts  have  failed:  and  the  course  of  the 
river -can  now  be  traced  by  the  desolations  of 
the  country  through  which  it  passes,  and  the 
cloud  of  black  fog  which  hangs  continually 
over  it  to  the  place  where  it  disappears  in  the 
clouds  of  smoke  and  lava,  near  the  lower 
terminus  of  the  Black- Valley  Road.  As  this 
river  diverges  from  the   Crystal- Water  River, 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  77 

its  waters  grow  more  and  more  bitter  as  well  as 
poisonous  ;  and  the  fog-cloud  which  liangs  over 
it  is  charged  with  miasmas  which  produce  the 
most  pestilential  diseases.  As  its  waters  are 
the  cause  of  death  to  those  who  use  them,  and 
tlie  receptacle  of  the  dead  who  fall  or  are 
thrown  into  them,  it  has  received  the  name  of 
Death  River. 

All  along  the  course  of  the  river,  the  dead 
may  be  seen  floating  in  ghastly  forms  upon  its 
waters.  As  the  river  flows  on,  these  bodies 
accumulate :  so  that  at  the  mouth,  where  it  flows 
close  by  the  great  Black- Valley  Road,  near  its 
lower  terminus,  the  accumulated  dead  present  a 
sight  most  horrible  to  behold.  By  an  examina- 
tion of  these  bodies,  it  can  be  determined  at 
what  place  they  were  thrown  into  the  river. 
Those  that  have  floated  down  from  Fightington 
exhibit  bruises  and  gashes  indicative  of  tlie 
causes  of  their  death.  Those  from  Prisonton 
sometimes  have  ropes  upon  their  necks ;  and 


78  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

tlieir  "  gallows  countenances "  show  plainly 
from  whence  they  have  come.  The  corpses 
from  Beggarstown  liave  their  rags  cleaving  to 
them  ;  and  the  ghastly  wounds  of  those  from 
Demonland  sometimes  indicate  the  very  instru- 
ments that  were  used  to  plunge  them  into  the 
river. 


^#"^W 


CHAPTER  VI. 

attempts  to  c?teck  the  Susitiess  of  the  Slack' 
Yalley  Tload.  —  2'/ie  Zicensed  Trains.  — 
Mr.  Chusetts  and  ?iis  Plantation. 

[HEN  it  was  found  that  the  popula- 
tion of  the  Black- Valley  Country- 
was  becoming  very  large,  and  the 
business  of  the  road  was  rapidly  increasing,  and 
that  the  cloud  which  hung  over  the  country 
was  extending  over  the  surrounding  regions, 
fears  began  to  prevail  lest  the  whole  neighbor- 
hood should  come  under  the  cloud.  This  fear 
was  much  increased  when  it  was  found  that  the 
cloud  extended  just  in  proportion  to  the 
increase  of  the  business  of  the  road.  In  con- 
sequence of  this  apprehension,  a  system  of  le- 
gislation was  commenced,  for  the  purpose  of 

79 


80  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

checking  the  business  of  the  road.  One  plan 
proposed  was,  to  lay  a  heavy  tax  upon  all  who 
run  trains  over  this  road,  and  then  give  them  a 
license  to  run  as  many  trains  as  they  chose'; 
providing  always  that  the  cars  should  be  in 
good  order,  and  that  none  but  respectable 
people  should  be  permitted  to  travel  in  them, 
and  that  the  cars  should  not  run  on  Sundays  or 
after  ten  o'clock  at  night.  Conductors  were 
also  required  to  be  men  of  standing  and  respect- 
ability. By  this  plan,  it  was  thought  that  poor 
people  Avould  be  prevented  from  travelling  on 
the  road  ;  as  they  would  not  have  the  means  of 
purchasing  tickets  at  the  high  prices  that  they 
must  be  sold  for.  It  was  also  thought  that  the 
licensed  trains  would  run  into  ifie  unlicensed 
ones,  and  smash  them  wp,  or  throw  themfrom~the 
track. 

"When  this  plan  was  tried,  it  was  found  to 
work  very  differently  from  what  was  antici- 
pated. 


«.^ 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  81 

As  the  track  run  through  a  country  that 
could  not  be  easily  watched  and  guarded,  and 
which  was  always  kept  in  good  running  condi- 
tion by  the  licensed  trains,  and  travelling  made 
respectable  by  the  protection  which  the  law  gave 
it,  a  vast  multitude  of  adventurers  were  found 
to  be  running  trains  for  the  special  accommoda- 
tion of  the  poorer  classes  of  travellers,  who 
were  not  able  to  ride  in  the  licensed  cars.  It 
was  also  found,  that  many  of  the  travellers  in 
the  licensed  cars  were  continually  leaving  them 
for  the  cheaper  trains,  especially  towards  tlje 
lower  regions  of  the  country.  .  It  was  also 
found,  that  the  licensed  trains  were  continually 
running  late  at  night,  having  contrived  a  plan 
for  darkening  the  windpws  and  muffling  the 
wheels,  so  as  to  move  without  noise. 

When  the  working  of  this  system,  after 
many  experiments  and  observations,  became 
understood,  a  law  was  passed  authorizing 
ilie  tearing  up  of  the  track,  and  the  total  annihi- 


82  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

lation  of  the  husiyiess  of  the  road.  Tlie  main 
point  of  the  law  was,  that  men  should  not  run 
public  trains  for  carrying  travellers  or  freight 
over  this  road,  and  that  the  road  itself,  as  a 
public  road,  should  be  destroyed.  The  law 
was  carefully  constructed,  so  as  not  to  interfere 
with  the  rights  of  individuals  who  wished  to 
travel  in  the  Black- Valley  Country.  It  only 
forbade  the  running  of  public  conveyances^  and 
did  not  prevent  any  from  travelling  in  their 
own  private  conveyance  on  a  private  way  clear 
to  the  volcano  at  the  end  of  the  road.  They 
might  even  lea'p  into  the  volcano ;  but  they 
must  pot  make  it  a  business  to  carry  other 
people^  and  more  especially  \uith  the  p'>'otection 
and  authority  of  law.    . 

Nearly  upon  the  boundary-line'  between  the 
Black- Valley  Country  and  Fountainland  was  a 
large  plantation,  owned  by  a  gentleman  who 
bore  the  not  vecy  pleasant-sounding  name  of 
Chusetts.     This  gentleman  was  a    friend    to 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  83 

virtue  and  good  order.  He  was  also  friendly 
to  all  good  enterprises.  He  took  a  great 
interest  in  schools,  and  established  the  first  free 
school-system  known  in  history.  He  was  a 
friend  of  liberty,  too,  and  was  veiy  apt  to  say 
severe  things  about  th6se  who  deprived  their 
lellow-men  of  their  freedom. 

His  ancestors  had  fought  and  bled  and  died 
for  liberty ;  and,  as  they  cf)uld  not  secure  it,  he 
fled  from  the  country  in  which  ho  was  born, 
and,  sailing  across  a  wide  sea,  landed  where  the 
"  breaking  waves  dashed  high,"  and  purchased 
his  plantation  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  enjoy- 
ing freedom  to  worship  God  as  he  chose,  and 
make  himself  generally  useful. 

Soon  after  he  had  got  his  plantation  in  work- 
ing, order,  he  began  to  have  trouble  with  the 
Black-Valley  Railroad.  The  Black-Valley 
men  •  on  his  plantation  established  several 
branch-roads,  connecting  with  the  great  Central 
Koad    through    the     Black- Valley    Country. 


84  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

This  was  much  against  his  approbation,  and 
caused  him  a  great  deal  of  trouble.  As  he  did 
not  wish  to  infringe  on  the  liberties  of  his  boys, 
he  did  not  at  first  absolutely  forbid  the  running 
of  these  branches  from  his  plantation.  Finding 
that  multitudes  of  his  boys  were  going  down  to 
the  Black- Valley  Country  upon  this  road,  and 
that  the  number  increased  every  year,  he 
attempted  to  check  the  business  of  the  road  by 
a  stringent  system  of  licensing  the  trains.  This, 
however,  did  not  work:  and  the  matter  kept 
growing  worse  and  worse  ;  until  at  length  he 
came  to  the  conclusion,  to  stop  the  whole  thing, 
hy  tearing  up  all  the  tracks^  and  putting  all  the 
dSpot-masters  in  prison.  When  he  issued  his 
order  to  this  effect,  there  was  much  commotion. 
The  Black- Valley  men  coniplained,  and  said 
that  the  old  man  was  a  fool,  and  was  dreadfully 
"  nosed  about "  by  the  priests,  who  .were 
always  meddling  with  that  which  was  none  of 
their  business.     The  Crystal-River  stage-men 


BLACK -VALLEY  JtAILROAD.  85 

were  in  ecstasies  at  what  had  occurred ;  and 
many  who  had  been  carried  into  slavery  upon 
the  Black- Valley  Road  could  not  restrain  their 

joy-    " 

When  this  edict  was  issued,  the  people  of  the 
plantation  generally  submitted ;  and  the  d^p6ts 
of  the  Black- Valley  Road  were  nearly  all 
closed  up,  with  the  exception  of  those  in  the 
largest  village  of  the  plantation.  As  that 
village  had  great  influence  upon  the  other 
Tillages  of  the  plantation,  and  was  the  place 
where  he  Was  accustomed  to  meet  his  boys 
every  year  on  a  great  and  "gonerar  Council,  bo 
was  much  grieved  at  their  conduct;  and,  in 
view  of  the  state  of  things  which  he  found  6s- 
kting,  he  addressed  them  as  follows :  — ''':"  .^Tr'-? 
•  ^*  Dear  boys  of  my  metropolitan  village,  I 
am  pained  to  find  that  you  do  not  intend  to 
obey  the  law  which  I  have  enacted  for  tlie  sup- 
pression of  the  busine&s  of  the  Black- Valley 
Railroad ;  and  I  am  the  more  pained,  as  I  reraera- 


86  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

ber  that  you  are  professedly  the  friends  of  law 
and  order.  But  a  few  years  ago,  you  even 
caused  to  be  executed  a  very  wicked  law,  be- 
cause you  were  professedly  a  law-abiding  com- 
munity ;  and  the  streets  of  your  village  were 
thronged  vni\\  many  thousand  witnesses  of 
your  zeal  in  executing  a  law  which  you  your- 
selves declared  was  very  iniquitous,  and  eveu 
against  the  *  higher  law.'  Now  you  are  re-^ 
fusing  to  execute  a  law  which  aims  to  remove 
one  of  the  greatest  evils  from  your  midst.  The 
road  which  I  have  issued  my  order  to  have 
stopped  has,  in  ten  years,  carried  a  number  equal 
to  forty-two  per  cent  of  your  population  down 
to  Prisonton.  From  official  records,  it  appears 
that,  out  of  four  hundred  ilwusand  who  went  to 
Prisonton  in  seventeen  years^  two  hundred  and 
seventy-five  thousand  of  them  went  there  on 
the  Black-Valley  Road ;  and  that  during  the 
same  time  twenty-eight  thousand  persons  were 
picked  up  in  a  helpless  condition  by  the  side  of 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILltOAD.  87 

the  same  road,  and  carried  to  their  liomes 
battered,  bruised,  and  begrimed,  to  tlie  great 
grief  and  astonishment  of  broken-hearted 
wives  and  parents.  Though  but  one-sixth  of 
the  population  of  my  plantation  reside  in  your 
village,  more  than  one-half  of  those  who  go  to 
Prisonton  are  from  your  place,  and  have  gone 
down  on  the  road  which  I  have  ordered  to  be 
destroyed.  I  am  spending  every  year  two 
millions  of  dollars  to  promote  virtue  and  order, 
by  the  schools  which  I  am  sustaining ;  while  you 
are  spending  more  than  that  sum  in  carrying 
men  directly  away  from  the  influences  which 
these. schools  are  designed  to  exert.  In  these 
schools  I  have  twenty-jive  tJiousand  pupils 
whom  I  am  trying  to  carry  up  to  virtue  and 
respectability ;  while  your  road  is  carrying 
thirty  thousand  down  to  Beggarstown  and 
Prisonton  and  other  places  in  the  Black- 
Valley  Country.  Your  road  is  against  all  the 
interests  of  my  plantation  ;  and  I  have  there- 


88  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

fore  ordered  its  business  to  be  stopped.  I 
am  not  unmindful  of  your  importance  as  my 
largest  village.  Your  merchant-princes  and 
your  great  and  good  men  and  your  great  and 
good  deeds  I  have  not  forgotten.  I  know  you 
fought  for  the  liberty  and  independence  of  my 
plantation,  and  other  plantations  in  my  neigli- 
borhood,  when  our  liberties  were  in  danger 
from  a  foreign  foe.  I  call  to  mind  with  pride 
the  great  tea-party  you  gave  to  our  common 
enemy,  you  furnishing  water  and  they  fur- 
nishing tea.  (Oh  that  you  knew  the  advan- 
tages of  water  as  well  now  as  in  those  days  of 
your  well-earned  fame!)  All  these  things  I 
call  to  mind  with  pride ;  but,  notwithstanding 
your  good  deeds  and  your  noble  historj',  I  can- 
not permit  you  to  break  any  of  my  laws. 
Your  power  as  a  government,  permit  me  to  re- 
mind you,  comes  from  me.  All  your  powers 
are  given  to  you  by  my  laws.  You  are  my 
agent  for  executing  my  laws.     What  I  have 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  89 

given,  I  can  at  any  time  take  back  ;  and,  if  you 
■will  not  act  as  my  agent  in  executing  my  laws, 
I  must  have  an  agency  that  will  act.  Nor  can 
I  allow  you  to  be  partial  in  the  execution  of 
my  laws ;  and  I  am  pained  to  find,  that,  in 
the  execution  of  them,  the  men  whom  you 
appoint  to  attend  to  this  business  have  their 
favorites. 

"  Facts  have  come  to  my  knowledge,  showing, 
that  while  you  caused  to  be  arrested  annually 
nearly  twenty  thousand  travellers  upon  tliis 
Black- Valley  Road,  a  large  number  of  whom 
had  been  thrown  out  of  the  trains,  and  picked 
up  in  a  helpless  condition  along  the  track  in 
your  streets,  you  have  allowed  nearly  two 
thousand  masters  of  debuts  upon  the  road  to 
pursue  their  criminal  business  with  impunity. 
You  have  taken  the  w^ak  and  the  helpless,  and 
let  the  strong  men  go.  I  moreover  learn,  that 
many  of  the  men  whom  you  have  appointed  to 
execute  my  laws  arc  patrons  of  the  road  which 


90  .    BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

is  running  contrary  to  law,  and  that  some  of 
•them  take  frequent  excursions  upon  that  road, 
and  have  even  been  seen  below  Topersville, 
with  their  badges  of  office  still  on.  Instead  of 
helping  to  close  up^these  d^pSts,  some  of  them 
are  doing  what  they  can  to  make  them  respect- 
able ;  and  that  in  two  ways :  first,  by  patroniz- 
ing them ;  and,  second,  by  picking  up  and 
putting  out  of  sight  the  miserable  objects  that 
have  been  ejected  from  the  trains.  I  must 
remind  you  too,  and  I  do  it  with  pain,  that, 
when  my  law  forbidding  the  running  of  the 
Black- Valley  Road  was  first  enacted,  the  gov- 
ernment of  your  village  issued  licenses  to  all 
conductors  and  stoclcholders  of  ^  good  moral 
character^''  thus  in  effect  nullifying  my  law. 
In  constructing  my  law,  I  consulted  some  of 
my  most  able  and  skilful  and  learned  men.  As 
you  wex'e  the  first  to  violate  and  trample  upon 
it,  I  must  bring  you  to  submission ;  and,  when 
this  is  done,  I  shall  look  after  my  smaller  vil- 


BLACK  -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  91 

lages,  unless,  seeing  wliat  I  am  doing  for  you, 
they  conclude  to  look  after  themselves. 

*'  I  am  happy  to  find,  in  doing  this,  that  I  have 
the  approbation  of  so  many  of  the  order-loving 
citizens  of  your  place  ;  whose  property  is  en- 
dangered by  the  Black- Valley  Road,  and  whose 
sons  are  tempted  by  it  to  travel  in  the  Black- 
Valley  Country.  Let  me  remind  you,  too, 
that  I  once  hung  a  distinguislied  teacher  in  one 
of  my  great  schools  in  your  vicinity,  because 
he  broke  a  law  whose  penalty  was  death.  The 
law  which  you  are  violating  was  not  made 
rashly :  it  was  the  result  of  many  thoughts 
and  much  deliberation.  It  has  had  the  support 
of  my  great  Council  for  many  years.  It  has 
already  done  much  good,  though  not  in  your 
villase,  as  the  throngs  of  men  and  women  in 
Beggarstown  and  Prisonton  who  have  gone 
down  over  the  road  make  painfully  apparent. 
lu  fine,  you  must  submit.  I  am  your  master, 
and  cannot  give  up  my  authority  over  you; 


92  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

and,  If  you  cannot  enforce  it,  I  must  take  the 
matter  into  my  own  hands.  I  must  he  oheyedy 
At  the  conclusion  of  this  address,  there  was 
a  great  murmuring .  and  shaking  of  fists  and 
deliverance  of  oaths  among  the  Black- Valley 
men.  The  Crystal-River  stage-men  were 
again  in  ecstasies.  Old  Mr.  Konshunts  cried 
at  the  top  of  his  voice,  "  All  right ! "  and  a 
company  of  old  travellers  upon  the  Black- 
Valley  Road,  who  had  just  come  out  of  the 
slavery  of  the  Black- Valley  Country,  called 
for  three  cheers  for 

Old  Massa  Chusetts  ! 

which   were   given  in  tones  that  were  heard 
throughout  the  plantation. 

The  laws  against  the  aforesaid  road  began 
now  to  be  thoroughly  executed.  Constables 
especially  appointed  for  this  object  closed  up 
many  of  the  places  where  tickets  were  sold. 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  93 

As  soon  as  tliis  began  to  be  thoroughly  clone, 
there  was  great  excitement  among  the  Black- 
Valley  men ;  and  a  vigorous  and  united  effort 
was  made  to  have  the  law  repealed,  and,  if 
this  could  not-  be  done,  to  have  it  so  altered 
that  the  business  of  the  road  would  riot  he  inter- 
fered with,  or  the  public  morals  injured  by 
having  a  law  that  coudd  not  he  executed.  They 
declared,  that,  in  spite  of  all  the  representations 
to  the  contrary,  the  law  prohibiting  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Black- Valley  Road,  and  closing  up 
the  depQts  upon  it,  greatly  increased  the  num- 
ber of  travellers.  Many,  they  said,  who  never' 
before  travelled  on  that  road,  and  even  were 
greatly  opposed  to  it,  were  procuring  tickets, 
not  for  the  purpose  of  use,  but  to  show  their 
love  of  liberty,  and  that,  while  the  water-men 
"  had  all  the  law  they  wanted,  the  friends  an^ 
patrons  of  the  road  got  all  the  rides,  and  sold 
all  the  tickets  they  wJinted  to." 

By  various  united   and  persevering  efforts 


94  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

the  law  was  at  length  amended  so  as  to  suit 
the  Black- Vallej  men  and  that  class  of  Foun- 
tainland  men  who  lived  upon  the  borders  of  the 
Black-  Valley  Country y  and  occasionally  took  ex- 
cursions upon  the  road,  or  speculated  in  its 
stocks,  or  wanted  some  favor  from  the  corpora- 
tion, or  thought  it  good  policy  to  alter  the  law. 
Under  the  amended  law,  all  depots  were 
to  be  constructed  so  as  to  have  the  appearance ' 
of  grocery-stores  or  apothecary-shops  ;  and  all 
tickets  were  to  be  called  Health  Excursion 
Tickets,  and  to  be  gotten  up  in  the  form  of  a 
Beer-bottle. 

Under  this  new  arrangement,  the  business  of 
the  corporation  was  resumed  with  renewed 
vigor.  All  the  places  upon  the  road  increased 
tapidly  in  population ;  while  the  stockholders 
and  employees  increased  in  wealth. 

Of  the  results  of  this  new  arrangement,  the 
reader  will  learn  farther  on. 


JS       ' 


Mr.  Beerbloatof  Toperavillo.  attfimptiag  a  Bi)Qecli  ia  defcnpo  of 
liberty  and  the  amended  laWi— P-  W' 


CHAPTER   VII. 

Prosperity  of  i/ie  Sioad.  —  !Renewed  Attempts 
to  Destroy  It,  —  Water  and  Forcinff  Jn^ 
strumenfs.  —  Flooding  of  Sipping  ton. 


^EAR  after  year  the  mischiefs  of  the 
Black- Valley  Railroad  continued  to 
increase.  The  great  depSt  at  Sip- 
j)ington  was  from  time  to  time  enlarged.  Vast 
'sums  of  money  were  expended  by  the  corpora- 
tion in  attempting  to  maintain  the  reputation 
and  show  the  great  value  and  usefulness  of  the 
road. 

When  the  business  of  the  road  on  one  of  its 
great  branches  was  likely  to  be  interrupted  by 
a  legal  injunction,  which  those  who  were  un- 
favorable to  it  were  trying  to  procure,  the  cor- 

96 


96  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

poratlon  employed  at  great  expense  the  services 
of  distinguished  and  eloquent  counsellors  and 
lawyers,  to  prove  that  the  opposers  of  the  road 
were  crazy  men,  who  had  "  water  on  the 
brain."  Old  records  were  searched  ;  and  old 
friends  and  travellers  on  the  road  were  con- 
sulted. By  this  method  it  was  attempted  to  be 
proved  that  the  road  was  useful,  and  even  in- 
dispensable to  the  welfare  of  the  community ; 
that  multitudes  who  travelled  on  it  were  much 
benefited,  if  they  did  not  travel  too  often  and 
too  far ;  that  the  respiratory  organs  were  some- 
times much  strengthened  by  occasional  excur- 
sions ;  and  that  the  stockholders  and  d6p8t-  * 
masters  had  their  "  inalienable  rights,"  which 
could  not  be  interfered  with  in  the  way  pro- 
posed by  men  whose  brains  had  been  so 
affected  by  water.  Moreover,  an  attempt  was 
made  to  prove  that  the  owners  and  patrons  of 
the  Black- Valley  Railroad  were  in  the  ascen- 
dency at   the   polls,   and    could    outvote    the 


JDLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  97 

fanatics  who  were  trying  to  injure  tlie  road ; 
and  tliat,  under  a  government  by  the  people, 
this  consideration  settled  the  question. 

When  this  eloquent  and  able  defence  of  the 
road  had  been  made,  the  corporation  took 
measures  to  give  it  the  most  extensive  circula- 
tion. It  was  published  in  golden  letters  and 
illuminated  handbills,  and  sent  to  all  the  depots 
upon  the  road ;  where  it  was  posted  up,  and  read 
to  the  thronging  multitudes  usually  assembled 
at  those  places.  Great  meetings  were  held, 
and  glowing  speeches  were  made,  extolling  the 
action  of  the  corporation  in  procuring  so  able 
a  defence  of  a  much-abused  business,  so  likely 
to  become  infamous  without  such  counteracting 
influence. 

This  famous  apology  was  not  only  circulated 
in  the  depots  of  the  road,  but  large-  numbers 
were  sent  up  to  Fountainland  for  gratuitous 
circulation.  Its  eloquent  diction  and  ingenuity, 
as  well  as  the.  fame  of  the  authors,  led  many  to 
7 


98  LLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

read  it  who  were  sad  at  its  publication.  Others, 
and  among  them  multitudes  of  young  men, 
read  it  with  an  admiration  bordering  upon 
enthusiasm.  In  order  the  more  efFectually  to 
show  their  admiration  of  it,  they  got-  up  large 
excursion-parties  for  the  Black- Valley  Country. 
At  the  great  d^p6t  at  Sippington,  they  had  a 
grand  gathering  and  re-union  ;  and  great  multi- 
tudes of  them  for  the  first  time  took  an  excur- 
sion far  down  on  the  Black- Valley  Road. 

Under  this  wise  and  efficient  management 
of  the  road,  the  wealth  of  the  corporation 
rapidly  increased,  until  the  amount  became 
almost  fabulous.  The  annual  amount  of  fares 
was  twelve  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  The 
employees  of  the  road  numbered  more  than 
jive  hundred  thousand;  and  many  of  the  stock- 
holders became  millionnaires.  The  population 
of  all  the  places  upon  the  road  increased  in  pro- 
portion to  the  increase  of  the  business  of  the 
company. 


BLACK-VALLET  RAILROAD.  99 

With  tlie  great  increase  of  the  population  of 
tlio  Black- Valley  Country,  the  condition  of  the 
coxnitry  became  more  and  more  the  object  of 
study  by  statesmen  and  philanthropists.  In 
connection  with  this  study,  the  fact  came  to 
light,  that  the  corporation  of  the  Black- Valley 
Railroad  was  exerting  a  controlling  influence 
on  all  the  surrounding  region.  Stockholders, 
depot-masters,  and  ticket-sellers  made  tip  what 
was  known  in  the  whole  community  as  a  "  Ring," 
which  bade  defiance  to  all  law  and  all  re- 
straint. While  this  Ring  professed  that  they  re- 
gretted tlie  numerous  accidents  that  occurred  on 
the  Black-Valley  Road,  they  earnestly  opposed 
all  legislation  which  looked  towards  restraining 
their  business.  All  legal  action,  they  said,  ran 
into  politics,  unless  it  was  legal  action  in  favor 
of  running  trajns  under  some  sort  of  supervision 
hy  the  government  which  would  not  interfere  with 
their  business. 

DdpCts  upon  the  road  w^ere  the  headquar- 


100  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

ters  of  the  Ring.  At  these  places,  instructions 
were  given  to  voters ;  who  could  be  easily 
gathered  in  great  numbers,  by  a  promise  of  free 
tickets  upon  the  road.  Whenever  meetings 
were  to  be  held,  special  trains  were  run  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  Ring.  On  election  days 
also,  special  trains  were  run,  to  carry  the  friends 
of  the  corporation  to  the  polls ;  where  they 
were  looked  after  by  gentlemen  of  the  Ring, 
who  sometimes  carried  their  good  offices  so  far 
as  to  guide  and  lead  them  quite  to  the  ballot- 
box,  and  aid  them  in  depositing  their  votes. 

While  statesmen  and  philanthropists  were 
investigating  this  subject,  it  was  discovered  thp,t 
the  great  cloud  which  hung  over  the  Black- 
Valley  Country  was  casting  a  deep  shadow 
over  all  the  surrounding  region.  The  rautter- 
inffs  of  distant  thunder  were  sometimes  heard 
very  distinctly ;  and  vivid  lightning  flashes  in- 
dicated to  those  who  were  watching  the  cloud 
a  coming  tempest,  which  they  predicted  would 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  101 

sweep  like  a  whirlwind  over  the  whole  sur- 
rounding country. 

While  multitudes  were  watching  this  cloud, 
as  it  rolled  up  black  and  terrific  in  the  distance, 
a  very  important  discovery  was  made  in  regard 
to  the  action  of  water  on  the  Black- Valley 
Railroad.  Breaches  made  in  the  road  by 
water  it  was  found  could  not  be  repaired.  A 
wash-out,  it  was  ascertained,  caused  a  perma- 
nent and  dangerous  weakness  at  X^q  point  where 
it  occurred. 

It  was  discovered,  too,  that,  where  water  was 
flowing  freely,  the  road  could  be  easily  broken, 
and  cut  hy  forcing  instruments,  so  that  the  trains 
could  not  pass.  Lifting  and  prying  and  forcing 
under  water  was  found  to  be  effective  in  opening 
huge  breaches  in  the  road.  Forcing  instru- 
ments, that  had  been  bent  and  battered  while  in 
use  where  there  was  no  wqter^  were  found  to 
do  admirable  execution  in  connection  with 
water. 


102  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

The  power  of  water  having  been  shown  by 
several  experiments,  it  was  determined  to  try 
the  efforts  of  a  Jlood  upon  the  Black- Valley 
Railroad.     Let  us  have  a  flood,  said  all  hands. 

When  the  water-scheme  had  been  deter- 
mined upon,  every  man  from  Fountainland 
agreed  to  assist,  and  be  taxed  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  vast  canal,  which  should  turn  the 
great  Crystal  River  upon  the  most  important 
portion  of  tli^  Black- Valley  Road. 

Sippington  was  chosen  as  the  place  to  be  first 
flooded,  that  being  the  point  from  which  all 
travellers  upon  the  road  took  their  first  excur- 
sions. 

Numerous  experiments  having  proved  this 
plan  to  be  feasible,  a  company  was  organized 
to  construct  the  canal.  Everybody  was  invHted 
to  join  this  great  water-company.  Men, 
women,  and  children  were  enlisted  in  it.  In- 
formation about  the  flooding  scheme,  and  the 
experiments  which  had  been   tried  upon '  the 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  103 

road  by  water,  were  extensively  circulated. 
The  churches  in  Fountainland  were  opened 
for  public  meetings  on  this  water-question. 
Sermons  were  preached  and  addresses  made  ; 
and  multitudes  proceeded  to  join  the  water- 
company.  Only  a  few  churches  stood  aloof 
from  this  movement ;  and  these,  it  was  found, 
were  located  in  that  portion  of  Fountainland 
which  bordered  on  the  Black- Valley  Country, 
and  whose  members  took  occasional  excursions 
on  the  Black- Valley  Road,  or  were  the  owners 
of  stock  in  the  corporation. 

Several  years  were  occupied  in  constructing 
the  great  canal.  It  was  built  at  immense  cost 
and  with  a  vast  amount  of  labor.  In  the  heat 
of  the  day  and  in  the  chills  of  the  night  many 
labored,  cheerfully  bearing  the  burden  of 
this  work.  As  the  work  went  on,  the  stock- 
holders and  d^pSt-masters  of  the  Black- Valley 
Road  became  much  alarmed.  In  all  the  d^p6ts 
of  the  road,  the  water-men  were  set  upon  as 


1.04  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

fanatics.  A  rumor  was  started  that  they  were 
organizing  an  army,  with  which  to  invade  the 

« 

Black- Valley  Country ;  that  they  were  to  be 
armed  with  icicles,  instead  of  muskets,  and  that 
there  was  so  much  water  on  their  brains  that 
they  could  march  through  the  great  "  Black- 
Valley  Desert "  without  canteens. 

At  length  the  great  canal  was  completed ; 
dnd  the  gates  were  opened.  Gently  at  first  the 
water  flowed  along  by  the  Black- Valley  Road. 
As  it  flowed  upon  the  dry  and  thirsty  land,  it 
was  absorbed,  and  disappeared  without  any 
apparent  eifect.  The  Black- Valley  men  now 
smiled  at  the  folly  of  the  fanatics  who  were 
attempting  to  injure  the  road  by  so  harmless  a 
process. 

Onward  the  water  kept  flowing.  In  time 
the  dry  ground  was  saturated.  Water  began 
to  stand  upon  the  surface  of  the  ground.  At 
first  a  pond,  then  a  lake,  then  a  sea.  In 
the  cellars  of  all  the  houses  in  Sippington  a 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  105 

spring  broke  out,  producing  an  inundation. 
Empty  beer-casks  and  wine-bottles  were  set 
afloat ;  and  their  owners  were  astonished  at  the 
number'of  these  objects  in  their  cellars.  Most 
of  them  said  that  these  casks  and  bottles  were 
from  Medicineville,  and  were  placed  in  their 
cellars  on  trial,  and  that  water  was  a  serious 
damage  to  them. 

Tlirough  the  great  canal,  water  came  flowing 
and  rushing  in  increased  quantities ;  so  that  the 
windows  of  heaven  seemed  to  be  wide  open. 
On  all  sides  it  was  water,  water,  water. 

In  this  condition  of  things,  while  water  was 
flowing  all  around,  and  the  great  river  from 
Fountainland  seemed  to  be  discharging  itself 
upon  the  ddpSt  at  Sippington,  and  the  Black- 
Valley  men  were  ridiculing  the  flood,  and 
laughing  at  the  fanaticism  of  the  water-men, 
who  were  spending  their  time  upon  this  water- 
scheme,  it  was  determined  to  try  the  effect  of 
forcing  upon   the   foundations   of   the  d<^p6t.    ' 


106  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

Some  forcing  instruments  wliich  liad  been  much 
battered  by  use  on  these  same  foundations, 
when  no^  water  was  flowing,  it  was  found 
started  them  now  with  the  utmost  ease.  In- 
stantly they  yielded  to  the  pressure,  and  floated 
away  in  the  flood.  Forcing-bars  and  grappling- 
irons,  it  was  found  could  be  used  under  water 
with  telling  effect.  The  side  of  the  d^pOt 
towards  the  flood  began  to  settle  ;  and  soon  the 
whole  building  was  afloat.  Simultaiwously 
with  this,  the  gates  of  the  great  canal  were 
thrown  wide  open. 

A  new  impulse  was  given  to  the  flood. 
Some  said  the  ocean  had  got  loose,  and  was  run- 
ning into  Sippington,  or  that  an  earthquake 
must  be  lifting  up  the  bottom  of  the  great  sea 
in  Fountainland,  so  terrible  was  the  pouring  on 
of  the  flood. 

Under  the   united  action  of  water  and  the 

pressure  of  the  forcing  instruments,  the  great 

-dep6t  went  down  ;  and  the  track  of  the  Black- 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  107 


Valley  Road  was  swept  away,  and  Sippington 
for  a  time  was  completely  under  water. 

Some  incidents  connected  with  this  flood  are 
worthy  of  notice.  Several  churches  in  Sip- 
pington were  carried  away  from  their  old  loca- 
tions ;  which  were  so  thoroughly  wlished  that 
no  one  could  point  out  the  places  where  they 
originally  stood.  Dr.  Oldwine's  church,  where 
a  large  and  fasliionable  congregation  of  Sip- 
pingtonians  were  accustomed  to  worship,  was 
floated  quite  out  upon  the  stream. 

In  this  house,  many  had  heard  Dr.  Old  wine 
berate  the  imprudent  measures  of  the  water 
company,  declaring  that  their  organization  was 
both  unwise  and  unscriptural.  As  the  old 
meeting-house  was  seen  floating  away  from  its 
ancient  position,  a  general  shout  went  up, 
which  was  heard  far  up  into  the  Fountainland 
country. 

"  I  am  glad  to  see  the  old  ark  afloat," 
cried  a  hard-looking  man  from  Topersville ;  "  for 


108^  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

it  was  in  that  house  that  I  i-esolved  to  take  my 
first  excursion  upon  the  Black- Valley  Road." 
Throngs  of  men  from  other  places  upon  the 
road,  who  had  joined  the  water  company, 
clapped  their  hands,  and  shouted  for  joy,  saying 
that  they  once  belonged  to  the  congregation 
worshipping  in  that  house,  and  distinctly 
remembered  Dr.  Oldwine's  denunciation  of  the 
great  water-scheme  for  destroying  the  Black- 
Valley  Road. 

The  parsonage,  as  well  as  the  meeting-house, 
M'as  washed  from  its  old  position.  Dr.  Old- 
wine  was  much  alarmed  when  he  found  that 
•  his  house  was  surrounded  with  water,  and  that 
the  foundations  were  giving  way.  The  beer- 
casks  and  wine-bottles  which  floated  out  from 
his  cellar  excited  much  mirth.  The  doctor 
himself  was  seen  clinging  to  a  wine-cask  when 
his  Tiouse  floated  away  from  its  foundations. 
As  the  stream  carried  him  along,  his  gray  hairs 
could  be  seen  spreading  like  a  silver  disk  upon 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILItOAD.  .  109 

the  water.  "  You  are  going  in  the  right  direc- 
tion at  last,"  exclaimed  a  traveller  from  the 
Black -Valley  Country;  who  in  his  youth  was 
accustomed  to  hear  his  hearty  beratings  of  the 
water-fanatics,  who,  he  said,  "  were  pretending 
to  be  wise  above  what  was  written." 

In  connection  with  this  flood,  the  inhabitants 
of  Sippington  made  an  important  discovery. 
They  found  that  their  gardens  were  enriched 
by  the  great  overflow  of  water,  and  that  the 
cleaning  out  of  their  cellars  had  greatly 
improved  the  healtlv  of  the  place.  Many  that 
had  been  feeble  became  strong ;  and  many  that 
were  sick  became  well.  Some  said  an  angel 
must  have  troubled  the  pools  in  the  cellars,  so 
delightful  and  beautiful  had  been  the  clearincr 
out.  The  irrigated  gardens  and  lands  became 
more  productive.  Dahlias  and.  lilies  and  roses 
of  every  hue,  and  finiits  pleasant  to  the  taste, 
became  abundant. 

The  people  became   happy   and   contented. 


110  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTIiY. 

Multitudes  of  young  men  who  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  spend  their  time  at  the  great  d^pOt, 
and  their  money  for  excursions  on  the  Black- 
Valley  Road,  now  remained  at  their  homes. 
A  generation  of  laborers  grew  up  to  take  the 
place  of  loafers.  The  wealth  of  the  place 
rapidly  increased.  Churches  and  schoolhouses 
were  erected.  Sabbath  schools  and  common 
schools  were  crowded  with  learners ;  and  the 
town  soon  became  famous  in  all  the  surround- 
ing region. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

The  Sipping tonians  vote  to  annex  their  Town 
to  Fotcntainland.  —  Great  3)isturbance  at 
Medicineville.  —  Slack  -Valley  Railroad 
^fen  ar^'ested  for  y^iolatioti  of  the  Z,a7V 
conceiminff  the  iRoad.  —  Trial. 

IN  view  of  this  new  condition  of 
things  at  Sippington,  a  gre^t  public 
meeting  was  held,  to  consider  the 
question  of  changing  the  name  of  the  town. 
At  this  meeting  it  was  proposed  to  call  the 
place  Teetotalton.  This  was  objected  to,  on 
the  ground  that  it  did  not  convey  the  leading 
idea  of  the  place,  and  also  that  it  was  not 
classical.  Another  name  proposed  was  Water- 
ville.  This  was  objected  to,  on  the  ground  that 
the  place  was  rapidly  growing  in  wealth  and 

111 


112  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

population,  and  would  soon  probably  become  a 
large  city. 

While  this  discussion  was  going  on,  a  motion 
was  made  to  annex  the  town  to  Fountainlandy 
and  come  under  the  government  and  laws  of 
that  corporation.  In  favor  of  this,  it  was  urged 
that  Fountainland  had  a  high  'reputation  in 
all  the  surrounding  country,  that  it  had  good 
society,  and  a  good  government  and  laws,  and 
that  its  schools  and  churches  were  numerous 
and  in  a  flourishing  condition,  and  that,  by 
annexing  to  them,  all  taxes  for  crime  and  pau- 
perism would  be  avoided  ;  and  the  united  votes 
of  the  two  places  would  outnumber  the  votes 
of  the  great  Black  -Valley  Railroad  Ring,  now 
so  formidable  to  the  well-being  and  existence 
of  the  government.  After  a  full  discussion, 
it  was  unanimously  voted,  that  Sippington 
should  be  annexed  to .  Fountainland,  and  that 
the  old  name  should  be  entirely  dropped. 

After  the  -annexation,   the  population    and 


Back  room  of  an  under-ground  ticket  oflBce  of  the  Black 
Valley  R.R.  Mr.  Swearstrong's  method  of  evading  the 
State  Constables,    p.  113. 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  113 

wealth  of  the  two  places  united  rapidly  in- 
creased. Schools  and  churches  were  prosperous 
and  full,  while  prisons  and  almshouses  were 
quite  empty.  People  from  the  surrounding 
regions  moved  into  the  place  in  great  numhers ; 
and  all  branches  of  business  increased  with  a 
rapidity  never  before  known.  This  rapid 
increase  of  wealth  and  population  drew  many 
adventurers  to  the  place.  Merchants,  mechan- 
ics, and  laborers  of  every  description,  flocked  to 
this  fast-rising  commonwealth. 

Among  the  new  adventurers  to  tlie  place 
were  multitudes  of  agents  of  the  Black- Valley 
Railroad  from  Medicineville  and  Tippleton, 
where  great  numbers  had  been  thrown  out  of 
business  by  the  flooding  of  Sippington.  They 
came  with  the  hope  of  prosecuting  their  old 
trade  under  a  new  name.  They  commonly 
occupied  underground  rooms  in  the  most  unob- 
served streets.  Their  plan  was,  to  get  up 
excursions  into  the  Black- Valley  Country,  by 


114  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

selling  passes  and  tickets  to  such  as  could  be 
persuaded  to  procure  them.  Young  men  who 
could  be  enticed  to,  purchase  the  passes  were 
conveyed  to  the  main  road  in  stages  and  coaches 
that  could  Twt  he  distinguished  from  the  ordinary 
carriages  of  the  place. 

By  this  method,  large  numbers  of  young  uon 
were  found  to  be  leaving  the'  place,  and  emi- 
grating into  the  Black- Valley  Country.  Nu- 
merous families  were  in  great  affliction  by  the 
sudden  disappearance  of  some  of  their  number. 
Parents  in  search  of  their  lost  sons  would  often 
hear  of  them  at  Rowdyville,  Fightington,  Pris- 
onton,  Deliriumton,  and  Demonland,  and  some- 
times among  the  dead  that  had  been  thrown  out 
along  the  Black- Valley  Road. 

When  these  facts  began  to  come  to  light,  it 
was  determined  that  this  subject  should  be 
looked  into,  and  the  whole  business  promptly 
stopped  by  the  efficient 'and  thorough  execu- 
tion of  the  laws  of  the  commonwealth.     The 


A  little  girl  at  the  depot  of  Mr.  McGreedy  making  a 
purchase  for  her  father.  As  she  has  not  money  enough 
to  pay  for  the  whole,  Mr.  McGreedy  keeps  her  shawl  and 
she  goes  home  crying,    p.  1J5. 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  115 

Police  were  directed  to  ascertain  tlie  places 
•where  this  business  was  carried  on,  and  the 
names  of  the  parties  engaged  in  it. 

Every  thing  being  ready,  the  whole  company 
of  opemtors  for  the  Black  -Valley  Railroad  .^^'as 
arrested. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  parties 
taken  up :  Messrs.  Moneygrip,  AUclaws,  Gam- 
bler,Brotheller,  Neversober,  Hategood,  Allsham, 
Gripeall,  Ketchum,  Cheatem,  Rumfool,  Beer- 
bloat,  Killem,  Cidercross,  Ginldiot,  Flipsilly, 
Toddyman,  Tremerson,  Nightwalker,  Allfight, 
Loaferson,  Foolem,  Helpdevll,  Killsoul, 
Skinera,  Robwidow,  Spitflame,  Blackmouth, 
Nighthowl,  Aidrogue,  Gallowsface,  Scape- 
prison,  Toperson,  Breakhead,  Burglerson, 
Lightfinger,  Loveevil,  Ditchfall,  Wallowmire, 
Brandysmash,  Clawpenny,  Spitewater,  Lager- 
swill,  Slingslewed,  McGreedy,  Coinblood, 
Sharkcmup,  Staggorson,  Brandugly,  Babble- 
man,  Breaklaw,  Hellsead,  Cutthroat,  Swear- 
strong,  Van  Lecher. 


116    .  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  supreme  court 
of  the  commonwealth,  the  parties  arrested 
were  brought  forward  for  trial  under  the 
following  statute  :  "  Any  person  who  shall  he 
found  selling  or  disposing  of  passes  or  tickets 
vpon  the  Black -Valley  Railroad,  or  selling  or 
owning  stock  in  the  same,  shall  he  punished  at 
the  discretion  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  com- 
'monwealthy 

At  the  appearance  of  the  prisoners,  who 
were  led  into  court  chained  together,  there  was 
a  smile  and  a  look  of  satisfaction  upon  the  faces 
of  the  immense  crowd  of  citizens  assembled  to 
witness  the  trial.  The  case  was  tried  before 
Chief  Justice  Lovelaw,  with  Associate  Judges 
Fairmind  and  Trueman..  When  the  judges 
came  into  court,  it  was  noticed  that  most  of  the 
prisoners  turned  pale ;  and  some  fainted. 
Being  called  to  plead  guilty  or  not  guilty,  all 
arose,  and  plead  not  guilty ;  though  it  .was 
observed  that  those  who  had  fainted  were  held 
up  by  their  associates. 


BLACK-VALLEY  SAILSOAD..  117 

The  officer  who  attended  the  prisoners  at  the 
dock  was  Mr.  Ironhand,  who  wore  the  official 
badge  of  the  State,  and  was  attended  by  a  mili- 
tary guard. 

The  council  for  the  prisoners  was  Mr.  Wrig- 
gler, assisted  by  Mr.  Wrenchlaw,  Mr.  Showfair, 
and  Mr.  Leadrabble ;  who  were  retained  witli 
large  fees,  to  aid  in  conducting  the  trial.  The 
council  for  the  prosecution  wex*e  Messrs.  Know- 
law  and  Cleai-brain. 

The  jury  was  now  sworn,  and  the  indictment 
read  by  the  clerk,  the  prisoners  looking  on  with 
increased  anxiety.  Several  jurors  were  now 
challenged  by  the  council  for  the  prisoners. 

Mr.  Teetotaller  was  objected  to,  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  publicly  and  frequently 
expressed  the  opinion,  "  that  every  Black-Valley 
Railroad  man  ought  to  be  hung."     (Excused.) 

Mr.  Breakjug  was  objected  to,  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  several  times  attempted  to  throw 
trains  of  the  Black- Valley  Road  oflf  the  track, 


118  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

by  placing  obstructions  in  the  way,  and  that  he 
once  cowhided  a  d^p0t-master  ahnost  to  death 
for  frequently  selling  his  son  tickets  on  the 
Black- Valley  Road.     (^Excused.) 

Mr.  Drinkwater  was  objected  to,  because 
he  was  prejudiced,  having  often  said  that  all 
travellers  on  the  Black- Valley  Road  were 
fools.     (Not  excused.) 

Mr.  Killdevil  was  objected  to,  because  he  had 
said,  "  that,  in  his  opinion,  the  Black- Valley 
Railroad  was  built  and  owned  by  the  devil,  and 
that  he  wished  that  all  connected  with  it  might 
be  roasted  in  the  fire  at  the  end.  (Not  ex- 
cused.) 

The  council  for  the  commonwealth  objected 
to  Mr.  Beerman,  on  the  ground  that  he  had 
often  sold  tickets  on  the  road.     (Excused.) 

Mr.  Whiteblood  was  objected  to,  because  he 
was  apt  to  faint,  and  feared  that  if  the  case 
should  go  against  the  prisoners  it  would  be  too 
much  for  him.     (Excused.) 


BLACK -VALLEY  EAILROAD.  119 

Mr.  Ilelpdeatli  was  objected  to,  on  the 
ground  that  he  was  a  stockholder  in  the  Black- 
Valley  Road.     (Excused.) 

The  jury  was  here  filled,  and  sworn  in  the 
case.  The  following  is  the  list:  Mr.  True- 
man,  Noshamer,  Drinkwater,  Shunbad,  Steady- 
man,  Neverdrunk,  Handlenot,  Loveorder, 
Neverrun,  Truelight,  Lawenforce,  Killdevil. 

A  rery  large  number  of  witnesses  were 
examined  in  this  trial,  —  farmers,  mechanics, 
merchants,  physicians,  lawyers,  clergymen, 
miners,  sailors,  and  soldiers,  —  men  of  all 
classes  and  professions  and  countries.  Besides 
these,  a  large  number  of  witnesses  from  the 
Black- Valley  Country  —  men  and  women  who 
had  visited  every  place  upon  the  road  —  were 
examined. 

After  the  protracted  examination  of  wit- 
nesses, Mr.  Knowlaw,  the  prosecuting  officer 
of  the  commonwealth,  addressed  the  court  in 
a  powerful   and  convincing  speech ;   showing, 


120  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

1st,  The  constitutionality  of  the  law ;  2d,  Its 
adaptedness  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  object 
for  which  it  was  enacted;  and,  3d,  Tlie  necessity 
of  its  thorough  execution,  as  a  means  of  lifting 
the  cloud  which  had  so  long  hung  over  the 
Black -Valley  Country.  "Let  the  law  be  exe- 
cuted," he  said  in  conclusion,  "  and  the  smoke 
and  cinders  and  fires  which  have  blackened  and 
burned  and  desolated  the  vast  tract  of  country 
through  which  the  Black -Valley  Railroad  has 
passed,  will  immediately  disappear ;  and  the  sun 
will  shine  out  upon  that  dark  land,  with  heal- 
ing in  its  beams.  Irrigation  will  enrich  and 
repair  every  portion  of  the  desolate  country. 
The  great  Fountainland  River  is  waiting  to  pour 
itself  over  the  desert,  and  make  it  blossom  like  a 
rose.  Execute  the  law,  and  the  work  will  soon 
be  done.  Millions  of  voices  from  every  part  of 
the  Black -Valley  Country  will  unite  in  one 
grand  chorus  of  thanksgiving.  From  this 
company   of  evil-doers,  now  prisoners   at   the 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  121 

bar,  let  none  escape.  '  The  execution  of  the  law- 
will  give  an  effectual  check  to  the  vast '  business 
which  they  represent." 

Mr.  Wriggler,  in  behalf  of  the  prisoners, 
now  addressed  the  court ;  urging,  1st,  That 
cttstom  was  in  favor  of  the  business  for  which 
the  prisoners  were  on  trial ;  2d,  That  many- 
people  were  getting  their  living  by  it,  and  that 
it  would  be  cruel  to  deprive  them  of  this 
means  of  supporting  their  families ;  3d,  That 
the  business  of  the  Black- Valley  Railroad  was 
legitimate  and  useful,  and  that  it  was  the  abuse 
of  it  only  which  rendered  it  objectionable  ;  4th, 
That  the  law  Tuid  not  been  executed,  and  that  the 
prisoners  at  the  bar  went  into  their  business  with 
the  understanding  that  the  law  against  it  was  a 
dead  letter ;  6th,  That  the  law  was  attempting 
to  do  what  could  only  be  accomplished  by 
moral  suasion,  and  that  if  people  wished  to 
invest  their  capital  in  it,  or  get  their  Uving  by 
it,  the  only  way  to  prevent  it  was  to  persuade 


122  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

them  not  to  do  so ;  6tli,  Tliat  the  law,  instead  of 
checking,  had  greatly  increased  the  business  of 
the  road,  and,  if  executed,  would  increase  the 
business  still  more ;  7th,  That  the  law  was 
unconstitutional,  and  finally  that  the  jury  were 
to  decide  the  question  of  lam  as  well  as  the 
question  of  fact.  "  We  live,"  said  the  earnest 
advocate  in  conclusion,  "  in  a  land  of  liberty. 
Our  glorious  eagle  soars  aloft,  holding  liberty  in 
his  claws  as  with  hooks  of  steel ;  and  woe  to  the 
bigots  who  shall  attempt  to  wrest  it  from  him  ! 
His  screams  will  wake  up  the  people  to  come  to 
the  rescue.  The  Black- Valley  Country,  of 
which  we  have  heard  so  much,  will  be  lighted 
up  by  the  gleam  of  five  hundred  thousand 
swords  drawn  in  the  defence  of  liberty.  They 
will  flash  terror  into  the  face  of  all  fanatics 
who  attempt  to  break  down  by  iniquitous  laws 
any  branch  of  business  in  which  the  people  are 
engaged.''^ 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  speech,  which  occu- 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  123 

pied  four  hours,  and  was  listened  to  witli  intense 
interest,  and  which  its  admirers  said  was  like  a 
succession  of  skyrockets  sent  into  the  air,  a 
loud  shout  went  up  from  the  friends  of  the 
prisoners,  who  had  gathered  in  great  numbers 
to  witness  the  trial.  A  large  company  of 
stockholders,  depQt-masters,  and  Black-Valley 
Railroad  excursionists  gathered  around  Mr. 
Wriggler;  who  was  much  exhausted  by  his 
effort,  proposing  as  a  means  of  relief  from  his 
exhaustion,  as  well  as  an  expression  of  grati- 
tude, an  excursion  upon  ike  road  which  lie 
had  so  eloquently  defended.  The  proposition 
was  gladly  accepted ;  and  a  great  company  of 
those  having  an  interest  in  the  road  started 
imm'ediately  on  a  grand  excm'sion  in  the 
splendid  palatial  cars  now  ready  foe  the  trip. 

As  the  road  was  now  in  good  running  order 
below  Topersville  (the  flood  having  done  no 
other  damage  to  it  except  to  cut  off  travel  from 
the    upper    d(5p6t),    every  thing    was    easily 


124  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

arranged,  and  the  fireman  ordered  to  put  on 
steam.  With  flying  colors  and  loud  shouts  the 
train  started,  and  went  roaring  and  tearing  and 
thundering  down  the  Black- Valley  Road  with 
such  speed  that  the  wheels  took  fire  by  the 
accelerated  velocity  of  their  revolutions ;  and 
the  whole  train  at  length  disappeared  in  a  cloud 
of  fire  and  smoke  far  down  towards  the  lower 
end  of  the  road.  Most  of  the  excursionists, 
it  is  understood,  have  never  been  heard  of  since : 
several  of  the  most  distinguished  defenders  ot 
the  road  died  in  the  train  ;  others  were  thrown 
out  along  the  road.  Mr.  Wriggler  went  as  far 
as  Deliriumton,  where  he  was  ejected  for  break- 
ing the  windows  of  the  cars  in  a  fit  of 
delirium.  He  was  afterwards  picked  up  by  a 
Fountainland  stage,  and  carried  back  to  his 
family. 

A  distinguished  physician,  who  was  an 
invited  guest,  was  thrown  out  at  the  Qreat 
Desert ;  where  he  was  found  wounded  and  half- 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  125 

dead,  and  carried  to  Fountainland,  where,  by 
the  use  of  water,  he  was  restored  to  health  and  to 
liis  former  high  position  in  society.  Mr.  Lead- 
rabble,  who  assisted  in  conducting  the  defence  of 
the  Black- Valley  Corporation  against  the  perse- 
cution of  the  water-bigots,  as  he  called  them, 
went  far  down  into  the  Black-Valley  Country  ; 
where  he  miserably  perished,  and  where  his 
bones  lie  bleaching  to  this  day.  An  ex- 
clergyman,  who  had  doffed  his  clerical  robes, 
and  gone  into  the  business  of  selling  tickets  on 
the  Black -Valley  Road,  was  fished  out  of  the 
mud  at  Debauch  Slough  in  a  condition  hardly 
to  be  recognized  by  his  friends,  and  carried  in  a 
coach  known  as  the  "  Black  Maria  "  to  Prison- 
ton^  where  he  found  employment  in  respectable 
business,  though  not  in  a  respectable  place  or 
society. 

After  the  hearing  of  the  arguments  ypon 
both  sides,  the  case  was  committed  to  the  jury 


126  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

in  an  able  and  impartial  charge ;  and,  after  being 
out  ten  minutes,  the  jury  returned  with  a  ver- 
dict of  guilty^  amid  the  ■  loud  cheering  of  the 
vast  multitude  assembled  to  hear  the  trial.  As 
soon  as  silence  was  restored,  the  court  sen- 
tenced each  of  the  prisoners  according  to  the 
law;  and,  under  the  care  of  Mr.  State-Con- 
stable Ironhand^  they  were  marched  to  the 
place  of  punishment,  which  the  reader  will  find 
described  farther  on  in  this  volume. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

Great  Excitement  atotiff  the  Slack- Tatley 
Railroad  on  Account  of  the  jijaproacMng 
J^tood.  —  Water-men  denounced.  —  Arrival 
of  the  Flood  at  Medicinerille.  —  Great  ^6' 
pot  and  Storehouses  carried  away.  — 
Health  of  the  ^lace  improved. 

^  HE  news  of  the  flooding  of  Sipplng- 
ton,  its  annexation  to  Fountainland, 
and  the  trial  and  condemnation  of 
tlie  adventurers  from  Medicineville  and  Tipple- 
ton,  spread  rapidly  through  the  Black- Valley 
Country,  producing  great  excitement.  The 
stockholders  and  ddpot-masters  were  infuriated. 
Tliey  cried  out  at  the  top  of  their  voices,  and 
threw  jdust  into  the  air  in  such  quantities  that 
it  seemed  for  a  time  that  the  volcano  at  the 

127 


128  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

lower  end  of  the  road  was  in  a  state  of  erup- 
tion. The  men  who  had  built  the  great  canal, 
and  opened  the  flood-gates  upon  the  country, 
were  pronounced  fools.  Some  said  they  were 
priest-ridden,  and  had  but  one  idea,  and  that 
was  water.  Others  said  that  they  had  lived  on 
water-gruel  so  long  that  they  had  lost  all  mus- 
cular power  ;  so  that  one  man  well  nourished 
on  the  beverage  of  the  Black- Valley  Country, 
and  other  kinds  of  "respiratory  food,"  could 
chase  a  thousand,  and  two  put  ten  thousand  to 
flio-ht.  Others  said  these  men  were  dabbling  in 
politics,  and  that  the  water-company  at  Foun- 
tainland  was  a  political  organization,  which  was 
aiming  to  take  away  the  rights  and  destroy 
the  business  of  a  large  class  of  the  most 
respectable  and  wealthy  citizens. 

At  Medicineville  the  excitement  was  un- 
bounded. Water  from  the  Fountainland  canal 
was  beginning  to  flow  around  the  foundations 
of  the  great  d^pSt,  loosening  them   so  that  th6 


SLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  129 

building  was  evidently  settling  on  the  side 
towards  the  stream.  Huge  storehouses  were 
discovered  to  be  leaning;  and  crackins;. 
Steadily  the  water  kept  rising  and  flowing,  in 
spite  of  all  efforts  to  prevent  it ;  until  at  last 
the  ddpOt  was  afloat.  Almost  simultaneously, 
the  great  storehouses  of  the  place  tumbled 
and  went  down.  Millions  of  bottles  were 
floated  out  upon  the  stream,  so  that  for  many 
miles  it  looked  like  a  "  sea  of  glass." 

Soon  after  the  flood  had  swept  away  the 
great  d^pSt  and  the  storehouses  around  it,  the 
people  of  MedicineviUe  began  to  discover  that 
the  health  of  the  place  was  greatly  improving. 
Multitudes  of  invalids  who  were  in  the  habit 
of  taking  excursions  on  the  Black- Valley  Koad 
for  their  health  found  that  excursions  by 
water  were  vastly  more  beneficial  and  safe,  as 
well  as  less  troublesome  and  expensive.  After 
a  water-trip,  they  had  no  fainting  turns  or 
head-aches,  such  as  they  were  accustomed  to 


130  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

have  after  tlieir  excursions  from  the  Medicine- 
ville  depot.  A  very  large  number  completely 
recovered  their  health  by  these  water-excur- 
sions. 

In  view  of  those  facts,  a  public  sentiment 
grew  up  rapidly  against  all  attempts  at  rebuild- 
ing the  d^p3t,  or  repairing  the  road  which  the 
flood  had  so  badly  damaged.  It  was  discov- 
ered, too,  that  the  whole  country  around  Medi- 
cineville  was  much  improved  by  the  effects  of 
the  water  which  had  overflowed  it.  The  fields 
were  looking  more  beautiful  than  ever ;  and  the 
fruit-trees  were  yielding  their  fruits  every 
montii,  and  the  leaves  were  found  to  be  for  the 
healing  of  the  invalids. 


CHAPTER   X. 

Great  Jifeeting  at  JMedicinevitte  to  act  on  the 
Question  of  A.nnexing  the  ^tace  to  J^oun- 
tahiland.  —  Speeches  by  'M'r.  M^edicine- 
fooled,  2)r.  Jraterman,  Mrs.  Trywhiskey, 
and  Jtfr.  2}ittersell.  —  liesolutio?!  for  An- 
nexation  passed  amid  JOrOud  Cheers  for  t?te 
Water-company  and  the  Great  Canal. 


JHEN  tliese  discoveries  were  made, 
the  question  of  following  the  ex- 
ample of  Sippingtoriy  and  annex»- 
ing  the  place  to  Fomitainland,  came  up  for 
frequent  discussion.  After  a  great  variety  of 
facts  bearing  upon  this  question  had  become 
known,  a  petition  was  circulated  by  the  recov- 
ered invalids  for  a  public  meeting,  to  act  on 
the  question  of  annexation.     A  large  number  of 


132  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

signatures  having  been  procured,  the  meeting 
was  called.  Mr.  Medicinefooled^  who,  for 
more  than  ten  years  had  been  taking  daily 
excursions  on  the  Black-Valley  Road  for  his 
health,  and  who  was  nothing  bettered,  but 
rather  grew  worse,  was  chosen  to  preside. 

On  taking  the  chair,  he  related  his  experi- 
ence, and  declared  that  he  considered  the  late 
flood  which  had  swept  away  the  great  depOt 
and  washed  away  the  Black- Valley  Road  at 
Medicineville  was  the  ffi'eatest  blessinj;  that 
ever  visited  the  place ;  that  he  considered  the 
call  of  the  meeting  a  wise  movement ;  and  that, 
if  it  should  result  in  annexing  the  place  to 
Fountainland,  every  interest,  financial,  moral, 
and  sanitary,  would  be  promoted. 

After  the  speech  of  Mr.  Medicinefooled,  Dr. 
"Waterman,  a  physician  of  much  learning  and 
experience,  who  had  long  studied  this  subject, 
and  for  more  than  twenty  years  had  advised 
his   patients   to   take   no  excursions  upon  the 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  133 

Black- Valley  Road,  addressed  the  meeting  in  a 
powerful  speech,  giving  statistics  from  hospitals, 
camps,  and  almshouses,  as  well  as  from  his  own 
observations,  sustaining  the  chairman.  Among 
other  facts  which  he  stated,  quite  to  the  sur- 
prise of  many  who  were  present,  was,  that  cer- 
tain life-insurance  companies  issued  policies  to 
those  who  never  took  excursions  upon  the 
Black- Valley  Road  at  much  reduced  rates, 
having  ascertained,  by  a  vast  collection  of  facts, 
that  life  was  much  prolonged  by  keeping 
entirely  away  from  the  aforesaid  road. 

After  this,  a  large  number  of  invalids  ad- 
dressed the  meeting ;  giving  their  own  expferi- 
ence  and  observation,  and  confirming  all  that 
had  been  said. 

In  the  midst  of  this  discussion,  a  woman  of 
uncommonly  interesting  appearance  addressed 
the  audience.  It  was  Mrs.  Trywhiskey.  Her 
face  was  pale ;  and  her  dark  piercing  eyes 
seemed  full  of  indignation,  as  she  raised  her 


134  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

.  shrill  and  tremulous  voice  to  confirm  what  had 
been  said.  As  soon  as  her  voice  was  heard, 
the  audience  was  hushed  to  silence  as  she  pro- 
ceeded to  say,  "  If  there  is  any  subject  on 
which  women  have  a  right  to  speak  and  bear 
their  testimony,  this  is  one.  I  am  the  mother 
of  a  family,  and  the  wife  of  one  of  your  most 
respectable  citizens.  For  ten  years  I  have 
been  bringing  disgrace  and  distress  upon  my 
family  by  travelling  upon  that  road  whose 
mischiefs  have  been  alluded  to,  most  appro- 
priately called  the  Black-Valley  Road.  Ten 
years  ago  I  was  professionally  advised  to  take 
a  daily  excursion  from  Medicineville  for  my 
health.  At  first  it  seemed  as  if  my  health 
would  be  .  restored  ;  but  soon  I  found  myself 
far  down  into  the  Black- Valley  Country.  I 
passed  one  d^pQt  after  another,  until  I  found 
myself  at  Deliriumton  and  the  Crreat  Desert 
beyond,  where  I  was  ejected  from  the  train  in  a 
most  wretched    condition.      Bloated  and  be- 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  135 

grimed,  and  bruised  by  my  fall,  I  was  taken 
into  an  ambulance,  and  carried  back  to  my 
home.  I  found  my  family  in  great  affliction  by 
reason  of  my  long  absence.  By  the  frequent 
use  of  the  Fountainland  ■svater,  my  health 
was  restored.  What  Mr.  Medicinefooled  and 
Dr.  Waterman  have  said  is  every  word  true. 
Multitudes  of  othera  have  had  an  experience 
similar  to  mine;  and  I  am  convinced  that  no 
measures  would  be  so  wise  as  to  annex  our 
place  immediately  to  Fountainland,  and  have  its 
wholesome  laws  extended  over  our  village.  If 
females  are  allowed  to  vote  on  this  subject,  I 
and  all  present  shall  hold  up  our  hands  for. the 
measure. 

As  soon  as  Mrs.  Trywhiskey  had  resumed 
her  seat,  Mr.  Bittersold  arose  and  said,  "I  also 
have  tried  the  Mcdicineville-exeursion-remedy, 
and  in  consequence  have  been  far  down  into 
the  Black- Valley  Country.  From  Medicine- 
ville  I  went  slowly  to  Tippleton,  thence  more 


136  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY 

quickly  to  Topersville ;  from  which  place  I  was 
carried  rapidly  to  Horrorland  and  the  Great 
Desert  beyond.  At  Idiot  Flats  I  was  ejected 
from  the  train  ;  and,  when  my  head  struck  the 
ground,  I  came  to-my  senses,  and  availed  myself 
of  a  free  ride  in  one  of  the  Fountainland 
ambulances,  which  conveyed  me  to  this  place, 
where  I  intend  to  remain,  provided  the  motion 
before  the  meeting  prevails.  Otherwise,  it  is  my 
purpose  to  remove  immediately  to  Fountain- 
land,  with  such  of  my  friends  and  travelling- 
companions  as  I  can  persuade  to  go  with  me. 

Miss  Winecure  followed  in  a  thrilling  speech, 
which  is  omitted  for  want  of  room. 

At  this  stage  of  the  proceedings,  a  well- 
dressed  gentleman,  decorated  with  a  heavy  gold 
watch-chain,  and  .leaning  upon  a  gold-headed 
cane,  addressed  the  meeting.  It  was  Mr. 
Bittersell,  whose  great  storehouse  had  been 
swept  away  ia  the  flood. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  I  wish  to  remon- 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  137 

strate  against  these  rash  proceedings  A  great 
calamity  has  come  upon  our  place.  Mil- 
lions of  property  have  been  destroyed ;  and 
many  of  our  citizens  who  were  rich  have  been 
made  poor.  Multitudes  of  people,  too,  are  now 
out  of  the  business  by  which  they  have  sup- 
ported their  families  ajid  accumulated  their 
property.  More  than  ten  miles  of  the  road 
which  has  built  up  our  place  have  been  carried 
away ;  and  twenty  years  of  labor  will  not  repair 
the  breach  which  lias  been  made.  Large 
storehouses,  too,  have  gone  down  the  stream  in 
this  flood'  (and  here  he  raised  his  gold-headed 
cane,  and  shook  it  with  much  indignation).  If 
the  motion  made  in  this  meeting  prevails,  and 
we  vote  to  annex  our  village  to  Fountainland, 
and  come  under  its  bigoted  and  illiberal  laws,  our 
liberty  will  be  gone,  and  we  shall  be  slaves." 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Bittersejl  sat  down.  Miss 
Winccure,  who  was  known  formerly  as  a 
leadincj  singer  in  Dr.  Oldwino's  church  before 


138 


BLAGK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 


it  was  carried  away  by  the  flood  at  Sippington, 
was  called  on  for  a  song.  She  promptly 
responded ;  and  with  a  face  beaming  with  health 
from  the  use  of  water,  and  a  voice  clear  and 
strong,  so  that  it  could  be  distinctly  heard  in 
every  part  of  the  vast  audience,  sang,  — 

A  RIDE  ON  THE  BLACK- VALLEY  RAILROAD. 


You  have  heard  of  the  ride  of  John  Gilpin, 
That  captain  so  jocund  and  gay,  — 

How  he  rode  down  to  Edmonton  village 
In  a  very  remarkable  way. 


You  have  heard  of  the  ride  of  Mazeppa, 
Bound  fast  to  lis  wing-footed  steed,  — 

How  he  coursed  through  the  fields  and  the  forests 
At  a  very  remarkable  speed. 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  139 

But  I  sing  of  a  trip  more  exciting, 

In  a  song  ■which  I  cannot  restrain, 
Of  a  ride  down  the  Black- Valley  Railroad, 

Of  a  ride  on  the  Black- Valley  train. 

The  setting-out  place  for  the  journey 

Is  Sippington  Station,  I  think ; 
"Where  the  engines  for  water  take  whiskey, 

And  the  people  take  —  something  to  drink. 

From  collisions  you  need  fear  no  danger,  — 

No  trains  are  ever  run  back  : 
They  all  go  one  way,  —  to  perdition,  — 

Provided  they  keep  on  the  track. 

By  the  time  we  reach  Medicine  Village, 
The  passengers  find  themselves  sick, — 

Have  leg-ache  or  back-ache  or  head-ache, 
Or  some  ach.e  that  strikes  to  the  quick. 
\Applavse :    Mr.  MedicineseU  indignant.'] 

We  are  pious,  and  hold  by  the  Scripture, 

With  Paul  the  Apostle  agree,  — 
To  take  "  wine,"  instead  of  much  ".  water," 

For  our  "  often  infirmity." 


140  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

la  fact,  wc  improve  on  the  reading, 
By  just  a  slight  change  in  the  text,  — 

Say  "  often,"  where  the  Scripture  says  "  little," 
And  leave  "  little  "  for  what  may  come  next. 

We  break  up  at  Tippleton  Station, 

To  try  and  get  rid  of  our  pain  ; 
At  Topersville  also  we  tarrj^, 

And  do  the  same  over  again. 

Omr  spirits  indeed  may  be  willing, 

But  very  weak  is  the  flesh ; 
So  oft  as  we  stop  for  five  minutes, 

We  use  all  the  time  to  refresh. 

Now  we  come  to  the  great  central  station,  — 
Trtie  last  stopping-place  on  the  line,  — 

Drunkards'  Curve,  where  is  kept  the  chief  store- 
house 
Of  rum,  whiskey,  brandy,  and  wine. 

From  this  place  on  to  Destruction, 

The  train  makes  no  break  or  delay ; 
And  those  who  ma:y  wish  to  stop  sooner 
•  Are  kindly  thrown  out  by  the  way. 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  141 

A  full  supply  of  bad  whiskey 

For  our  engine  is  taken  in  here ; 
And  a  queer-looking  fellow  from  Hades 

Steps  on  for  our  engineer. 

From  Drunkards'  Curve  on  to  Destruction, 

The  train  is  strictly  express, 
And  will  not  be  slowed  or  halted 

For  an}'  red  flag  of  distress. 

And  so  when  all  things  are  ready, 

From  Drunkards'  Curve  we  set  out : 
Let  me  give  you  some  flying  glimpses 

Of  the  places  along  on  the  route. 

First  Rowdyville  claims  our  attention, 

Then  Quarrelton  comes  into  view, 
Then  Riotville  breaks  on  the  vision,    . 

And  the  filthy  Beggartown  too. 

As  we  rusli  by  the  village  of  Woeland, 
Three  wretches  are  thrown  from  the  train : 

We  can  sec  them  rolled  over  and  over 
Thi'ougli  the  darkness,  the  mud,  and  the  rain. 


142  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

Our  engineer  chuckles  and  dances 
In  the  wild,  lurid  flashes  he  throws ; 

Hotter  blaze  the  red  fires  of  hie  furnace, 
As  on  into  blackness  he  goes. 

Oh,  the  sounds  that  we  hear  in  the  darkness, 
The  laughter  and  crying  and  groans, 

The  ravings  of  anger  and  madness, 
The  sobbings  and  pitiful  moans  1 

,     For  now  we  have  entered  the  regions 
"Where  all  things  horrible  dwell. 
Where  the  shadows  are  peopled  with  goblins. 
With  the  fiends  and  the  furies  of  hell. 

In  this  deep  and  Stygian  darkness, 
Lost  spirits  have  made  their  abode : 

It  is  plain  we  are  near  to  Destruction,  — 
Very  near  to  the  end  of  the  road. 

Would  you  like,  my  young  friends,  to  take  passage 
To  this  region  of  horror  and  pain  ? 

Here  stretches  the  Black- Valley  Railroad, 
And  here  stands  the  Black- Valley  train. 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  143 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  sqng,  the  vote  was 
taken  ;  and  the  resokation  for  annexation  was 
unanimously  passed,  and  three  cheers  given  for 
Miss  Winecuic  and  Mrs.  Try  whiskey,  and- three 
times  three  for  the  water  company  and  the 
great  canal  which  had  brought  the  flood  upon 
their  once  sickly  and  miserable  place. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

Great  C?iange  in  the  Condition^  of  tfie  Slack- 
Yatley  Country.  —  F'ountainland  Stage 
Company  disba?ided.  —  Great  Yiotence  of 
the  Flood.  —  Many  flee  out  of  the  Slack 
Yalley.  —  Old  Stagemen  turn  Hoatmen.  — 
Great  Wash-out  in  the  Sroad  2ioad.  — 
Prince  of  the  Slack-  Yalley  Country  calls  a 
Council  of  his  JOegions.  —  Great  A.ccwMu^ 
tation  of  bridges,  !Depots,  Sroken  Cars. 
—  Skeletons,  d'c, 

I  HE  condition  of  the  whole  Black- 
Valley  Country  was  entirely 
changed  by  the  flooding  of  Sip- 
pington  and  Medicineville,  At  Rowdyville 
and  Quarrelton,  all  was  quiet.  At  Riotville, 
•mobs  had  entirely  ceased.     At  Beggarstown, 

144 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  145 

there  were  no  arrivals,  as  no  trains  now  came 
to  that  place.  At  Gamhlersville,  Figlitington, 
and  Brotbelton,  business  was  dull.  At  Prison- 
ton,  there  were  no  arrivals.  From  Deliriumton 
and  Demonland,  the  evil  spirits  fled  away  dis- 
gusted with  the  quiet  which  everywhere  pre- 
vailed. 

In  all  those  places,  the  people  had  heard  of 
the  great  flood  at  Sippington  and  of  the  de- 
struction of  the  Black- Valley  Road,  and  -were 
quite  prepared  to  welcome  the  flood  to  their 
own  places.  At  Drunkards'  Curve  the  news 
of  the  flooding  and  destruction  of  Sippingtou 
and  Medicineville  almost  created  a  panic,  so 
great  was  the  joy  at  that  place.  At  the  gi*eat 
ddpot,  where  so  lately  long  rows  of  stages  were 
always  in  waiting  to  convey  back  to  Fountain- 
land  those  who  could  be  persuaded  to  leave  the 
trains,  all  wa3  now  quiet.  As  no  trains  ar- 
rived, and  there  was  no  more  use  for  the  stages, 
the  stage  company  was  disbanded,  to  the  great 

10 


146  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

joy  of  those  who  had  expended  so  much  time 
and  money  in  maintaining  it. 

The  location  of  all  these  places  was  such 
that  the  flood  naturally  came  upon  them  with 
great  force  and  power.  The  Black -Valley 
Road  had  been  constructed  in  the  lowest  part 
of  the  country ;  and  all  the  places  built  upon  it 
were  low  down  in  the  valley,  so  that,  as  the 
flood  came  on,  it  swept  into  and  through  them 
9II  with  great  violence.  Many  of  the  people, 
when  they  heard  of  the  approach  of  the  wa- 
ter, fled  out  of  the  valley  into  the  more  ele- 
vated localities.  In  this  way,  a  vast  multitude 
was  collected  to  witness  the  effect  of  the  flood. 
As  they  looked  down  into  the  valley,  and  lis- 
tened to  the  roaring  of  the  waters,  their  atten- 
tion was  directed  to  the  fact  that  noticing  which 
was  really  valuable  was  injured.  The  only 
damaoje  which  the  flood  did  was  to  the  Black- 
Valley  Railroad,  and  what  was  connected  with 
it.     All  who  chose  to  do  so  could  easily  get 


BLACE-VALLET  RAILROAD.  147 

away  from  danger.  Even  those  who  were 
afloat  could  procure  help  by  calling  for  it  by 
some  signal  of  distress.  The  old  Fountainland 
stage-men  were  there  with  boats  and  ropes  to 
help  all  to  a  place  of  safety  who  were  willing 
to  get  out  of  the  doomed  Black  Valley  into 
which  they  had  come  from  the  great  upper 
terminus  of  the  Black- Valley  Road. 

While  this  great  flood  was  so  effectually  car- 
rying away  the  Black- Valley  Road,  it  was 
found  that  it  was  also  making  great  havoc  of 
the  old  highway  which  ran  through  the  valley, 
commonly  called  the  "  Broad  Road,"  and 
which  ran  nearly  parallel  with  the  aforesaid 
railroad.  The  huge  chasms  which  the  flood 
had  made  in  the  old  Broad  Road,  it  was  dis- 
covered were  greatly  interrupting  the  travel 
on  that  thoroughfare.  It  was  also  discovered 
that  where  these  wash-outs  occurred  there  were 
very  unusual  disturbances  in  the  air  in  all  tho 
immediate  neighborhood,  while  directly  over  tho 


148  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

wash-outs  there  was  the  appearance  of  clouds; 
and  sometimes  the  muttering  of  thunder  ac- 
companied with  flashes  of  hghtning  was  dis- 
tinctly heard.  This  unusual  condition  of  the 
atmosphere  arrested  much  attention.  Various 
opinions  were  advanced  as  to  the  causes  of 
these  phenomena.  The  most  common  opinion 
was,  that  the  prince  of  the  Black- Valley  Coun- 
try was  holding  a  council  of  his  legions  to  de- 
vise methods  of  repairing  the  damages  which  the 
great  flood  had  done  to  the  "  broad  road  "  over 
which,  in  connection  with  the  great  Railroad,  all 
his  subjects  passed  on  their  way  to  the  bonfire 
which  was  at  the  lower  terminus  of  both  these 
roads.  This  theory  was  much  strengthened  by 
the  fact,  that  after  the  flood  had  swept  away 
the  railroad,  and  doner  much  damage  to  the  old 
"  broad  road,"  the  country  became  very  beau- 
tiful under  the  labors  of  the  multitudes  of  men 
and  women  who  had  formerly  spent  most  of 
their  time  .and  money  in  travel  upon  the  above- 


BLACK -VAUjEY  RAILROAD.  149 

mentioned  thoroughfares ;  and  in  all  the  great 
Black -Valley  Country  the  people  were  con- 
tented and  happy;  and  even  "  the  great  desert " 
"  blossomed  like  the  rose  "  under  the  influence 
of  the  waters  winch  the  flood  had  poured 
over  it. 

One  of  the  effects  of  the  flood  which  arrested 
much  attention  was- the  great  accumulation  of 
the  debris  at  the  lower  portion  of  the  yalr 
ley,  through  which  the  flood  had  made  its  way. 
It  was  estimated  that  more  than  five  hundred 
acres  were  covered  thickly  over  with  demolished 
cars  and  depots,  which  had  come  down  upon 
the  flood.  Many  skeletons  of  dep6t-masters 
and  stockholders  on  the  road  were  found  buried 
among  the  fragments  qf  the  great  mass  of  rub- 
bish. They  were  the  skeletons  of  the  men 
who  had  attempted  to  resist  the  flood.  Among 
the  skeletons  were  recognized  the  bones  of 
many  who  had  attempted  to  ride  into  (official) 
high  places'  upon  the  Black- Valley  Railroad. 


150  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

The  places  on  the  great  field  of  accumu- 
lated fragments  where  these  skeletons  were  de- 
posited were  easily  discovered,  as  flocks  of  un- 
clean birds  were  always  hovering  over  them, 
and  filling  the  air  with  doleful  music.  The 
wind,  too,  brought  along  its  report  of  them,  by 
the  sickening  smells  which  sometimes  filled  the 
air,  to  the  great  disgust  of  the  whole  surround- 
ing country. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

Great  Joy  in  t/ie  Slack-  Valley  Country  on 
;4.ceount  of  the  Flood.  —  Old  Fountainland 
Stage-Company  re-organized  to  carry  Otet- 
casts  to  t?te  yyater.  —  Orfiame?ited  Stages 
and  Suge  Omnibuses.  —  Slossoms  in  the 
S)esert. 


[HE  arrival  of  the  flood  at  the  G-reat 
Desert  was  hailed  with  much  joy. 
The  d^pSt,  which  the  flooding  of 
Sippington  had  rendered  quite  useless,  was 
swept  clean  away  by  the  swollen  stream  which 
peured  along  the  track  of  the  road.  As  soon 
as  the  flood  made  its  appearance,  the  quality 
and  abundance  of  the  water  arrested  attention. 
All  who  drank  of  it  were  immediately  refreshed 

151 


152  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

and  invigorated.  The  inhabitants  of  the  desert 
soon  discovered  the  virtues  of  the  water,  and 
hastened  to  make  known  its  blessings  to  others. 
Vagabonds  and  outcasts  from  the  Black- Valley- 
Railroad,  and  wanderers  over  this  desolate  land, 
began  to  gather  at  the  stream,  and  to  quench 
their  raging  thirst.  Rumors  of  the  wonderful 
water  spread  rapidly  over  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  desert ;  and  multitudes  flocked 
thither,  to  try  its  virtues  for  themselves. 

All  who  drank  were  satisfied,  and  eager  to 
tell  to  others  its  wonderful  power.  Gladly  the 
good  news  was  communicated,  and  rapidly 
spread  through  the  whole  region. 

As  the  Fountainland  stages  -were  not  now 
needed  on  the  old  routes  where  they  had  for- 
merly been  employed  (the  flood  which  had  car- 
ried away  the  road  and  the  d^pSts  upon  it, 
and  stopped  all  travel,  having  rendered  them 
useless),  a  large  number  of  them  came  to  the 
great  desert  to  assist  in  transporting  the  help- 


BLACK-VALLET  RAILROAD.  153 

less  and  the  dying  to  the  healing  waters ;  the 
news  of  which  liad  created  a  strong  desire  in 
the  minds  of  many  to  remove  from  the  land  of 
desolation  and  drought  in  which  they  had  so 
long  been  dragging  out  their  miserable  exist- 
ence. 

The  arrival  of  these  stages  produced  a  pro- 
found sensation.  Multitudes  were  waiting  to 
be  carried  to  the  water,  and  eagerly  embraced 
the  first  opportunity  to  make  their  way  thither. 

The  lame  and  the  halt,  who  had  received 
,  injury  ^vhen  thrown  from  the  trains  on  which 
they  had  come  down  ta  this  desolate  land,  — 
the  sick  and  the  dying,  and  the  helpless  of  every 
class,  —  were  taken  up  in  great  numbers,  and 
carried  to  the  water. 

These  stages  were  of  every  variety  of  struc- 
ture, but  all  working  for  the  same  object. 
Some  of  them  were  covered  with  elegant  trap- 
pings and  ornaments.  Each  had  its  own  mark 
and  method  of  work.     Some  of  the  large  omni- 


154  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY, 

buses  which  did  most  efficient  execution  were 
plain  and  unornamented. 

Over  all  these  a  large  white  flag  floated  con- 
spicuously, upon  which  was  printed  in  red  let- 
ters, "  Ho^  every  one  iliat  thirsteth  :  come  ye  to 
the  waters.''^ 

These  omnibuses  were  constantly  loaded 
with  the  outcasts  of  the  country,  making  their 
way  to  the  region  of  the  healijig  waters  ;  whose 
virtues  the  skilful  drivers  were  constantly  ex- 
tolling with  voices  which  could  be  heard 
throughout  the  whole  desert.  At  times  the* 
whole  company  would  make  the  desert  resound 
by  singing,  — 

"  There  is  a  stream  wliose  gentle  flow 
Supplies  the  city  of  our  God, 
Life,  love,  and  joy  still  gliding  through, 
And  watering  our  divine  abode. 

Flow  to  restore,  but  not  destroy, 
As  when  the  cloudless  lamp  of  day 

Pours  out  its  floods  of  light  and  joy, 
And  sweeps  each  lingering  mist  away." 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  155 

One  of  the  most  noticeable  effects  of  the 
water  upon  the  Great  Desert  was  in  disclosing 
the  fertility  of  the  land.  Up  to  the  time  of 
the  introduction  of  water,  it  was  commonly 
supposed  that  the  soil  was  quite  worthless.. 
Wherever  the  water  flowed,  it  was  found  that 
the  land  became  fruitful.  As  soon  as  this  dis- 
covery was  made,  water  from  the  great  stream 
was  diverted  in  numerous  rivulets,  and  made  to 
flow  through  the  desert.  Wherever  it  came, 
the  country  became  extremely  fertile.  Vast 
fields  of  grain  waved  where  formerly  not  a 
shrub  would  grow :  the  vagabonds  of  the 
desert  became  the  tillers  of  a  fruitful  soil. 
Wealth  increased  with  great  rapidity.  Town- 
ships were  laid  out  and  roads  constructed. 
Schoolhouses  and  churches  were  erected,  and  * 
the  population  rose  rapidly  to  a  high  state  of 
civilization.  Under  this  new  condition  of 
things,  the  clouds  of  dust  which  formerly  filled 
the  atmosphere  disappeared ;  and  the  air  be- 


156  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

came  clear  and  invigorating.  The  suffocating 
lieat,  which  had  rendered  breathing  at  times  di^ 
ficult,  gave  place  to  a  healthy  temperature  ;  and 
the  whirlwinds  which  foraierly  swept  across 
the  country,  carrying  desolation  in  their  track, 
ceased  altogether,  as  soon  as  the  country  was 
irrigated  with  water. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Confiscated  Property  of  me  ^lack-Tal- 
ley  Railroad  Corporation  used  for  the  Con- 
struction of  a  ^Prison  and  Reformatory 
School,  in  which  Particular  Attention  is 
directed  to  the  Power  and  TTsefulness  of 
Water. 


■"^^JFTER  tlie  flooding  of  the  Black- 
Valley  Countiy,  its  annexation  to 
i^^a^  Fountainland,  and  the  general  im- 
provement and  renovation  of  the  whole  region, 
an  important  question  arose  in  relation  to  the 
disposition  of  the  confiscated  property  of  the 
Black- Valley  Railroad  Corporation,  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  government.  Its  value  in  the 
market  was  found  to  be  only  one  per  cent  of 

157 


158  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

the  value,  as  estimated  by  the  stockholders 
when  the  road  was  in  working  order.  After 
much  deliberation,  it  was  determined  to  sell  the 
property,  and  use  the  avails  for  the  erection  of 
a  suitable  prison  for  the  criminals  now  under 
sentence,  for  violating  the  laws  relating  to  the 
road. 

When  the  property  was  sold,  it  was  ascer- 
tained that  the  avails  were  insufficient  for  the 
erection  of  the  proposed  prison ;  but,  as  the 
wealth  of  the  country  was  rapidly  increasing 
under  the  new  condition  of  things  produced  by 
water,  it  was  found  easy  to  raise  the  money  by 
voluntary  subscription.  In  view  of  the  pros- 
pective decrease  of  the  criminals  to  be  pro- 
vided for,  it  was  determined  to  construct  the 
prison  so  that  it  would  answer  the  double  pur- 
pose of  a  prison  and  an  educational  and  indus- 
trial institution.  It  was  also  determined  to 
construct  it  in  such  a  manner  that  the  inmates 
would  be  constantly  reminded  of  the  power  and 
great  value  of  water. 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  159 

Prisonton  was  chosen  for  the  location  of  the 
institution. '  Around  an  enclosure  of  one  mile 
square,  an  embanl^ment  was  constructed  out  of 
such  material  of  the  Black- Valley  Railroad  as 
could  be  gathered  after  the  flood.  It  consisted 
of  a  pile  of  wheels  and  trucks,  and  broken 
iron,  and  fragments  of  all  sorts,  which  the 
flood  had  driven  together,  as  if  a  thousand 
railroads  had  united  in  a  general  smash -up. 
Upon  this  embankment  a  large  aqueduct,  con- 
structed out  of  the  boilers  of  the  engines  of  the 
aforesaid  railroad,  wa's  firmly  laid,  extending 
also  quite  around  the  enclosure. 

Into  this  aqueduct  tlie  smoke-stacks  of  all 
the  engines  of  the  road  were  inserted  at  suita- 
ble distances,  so  as  to  answer  the  double  pur- 
pose of  posts  and  water-spouts.  Between  these 
posts  a  palisade  fence,  made  out  of  the  rails 
of  the  same  road,  was  constructed.  To  this 
aqueduct,  another  and  much  larger  one  was 
connected,   extending  to   the  great    river   of 


160  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

Fountainland.  The  high  elevation  of  this 
river  above  the  valley  where  the  institution 
was  located,  it  was  estimated;  would  force  the 
water  several  hundred  feet  into  the  air,  and 
also  furnish  sufficient  water-power  for  driving 
all  the  machinery  of  the  workshops.  To  make 
the  whole  more  effective  in  showing  the  beauty 
and  value  of  water,  and  the  power  of  the 
Fountainland  pressure,  a  hollow  shaft,  made  of 
the  same  materials  as  that  of  the  aqueduct, 
extending  perpendicularly  several  hundred 
feet,  was  erected  in  the  centre  of  the  enclo- 
sure. The  top  of  this  shaft  was  in  the  form  of 
an  inverted  decanter^  and  connected  at  the  bot- 
tom with  the  great  aqueduct  from  Fountain- 
land,  already  described. 

When  this  structure  was  completed,  and 
the  water  let  in,  its  appearance  was  exceed- 
ingly  beautiful.  Every  pillar  of  the  fence  be- 
came a  water-spout;  and,  being  slightly  flat- 
tened at  the  top,  each  jet  of  water  assumed  the 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  161 

shape  of  a  fan,  the  whole  together  having  the 
appearance  of  a  wall  of  water,  beautifully  scal- 
lop'ed  at  the  top.  As  it  fell  in  spray  and  foam, 
the  great  aqueduct  presented  the  appearance 
of  a  huge  serpent,  boiling  and  seething  in  the 
water  ;  and  the  red  wheels  which  were  strewn 
along  the  embankment,  having  the  appearance 
of  numerous  flue-holes,  aided  much  in  deepen- 
ing this  impression. 

When  the  sun  was  shining,  the  spray  would 
form  rainbows,  so  that,  by  a  little  help  from  the 
imagination,  the  whole  enclosure  would  become 
a  wall  of  rainbows.  The  spouts  of  water  from 
the  old  sipoke-pipes,  and  the  inverted  decanter 
upon  the  top  of  the  great  central  shaft,  it  was 
noticed,  arrested  much  attention,  especially 
from  the  old  stockholders  in  the  Black- Valley 
Road.  Sometimes  they  were  seen  to  shiver  as 
with  a  sudden  attack  of  ague  while  looking  at 
these  objects.  When  the  rains  were  falling  at 
Fountainlaud,  and  the  springs  were  full,  and 


162  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

the  cascades  were  "-blowing  their  trumpets 
from  a  thousand  steeps,"  and  the  great  Crystal 
River  was  pouring  along  in  overflowing  banks, 
the  action  of  the  water  was  sensibly  increased, 
so  that  the  roar  of  it  could  be  heard  for  many 
miles.  By  putting  the  ear  to  the  groun'd 
when  all  was  quiet  and  still  (as  upon  a  New- 
England  sabbath),  the  sound  of  the  water 
could  be  heard  throughout  the  whole  Black- 
Valley  Country  from  Sippington  to  the  volcano ; 
and  those  who  could  see  well  at  a  distance 
always  noticed  a  diminution  of  the  fire  aj;  the 
end  of  the  road,  when  the  water  was  flowing 
abundantly.  •         • 

Upon  both  sides  of  this  water-wall,  a  broad 
canal  extended  quite  around  the  prison,  so  that 
any  who  attempted  to  escape  would  have  to 
swim  across  a  broad  expanse  of  water.  Upon 
the  arch  over  the  huge  iron  gate  of  the  prison 
was  inscribed,  — 


Rev.  Dr.  Oldwlne  with  his  senior  Deacon,  visits  the 
Prisonton  Water  Works,  and  is  invited  into  the  private 
room  of  a  parishioner  from  Sippington,  who  tells  him  that 
if  the  old  meetinghouse  had  heeu  swept  away  sooner  he 
should  not  have  been  in  that  place,    p.  1G3. 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  163 

"  33lacft*FalIe2  2slatlr0ai  SSaatet^JKaorfts." 
*'  Who  enters  here  will  not  depart  until  he 
has  learned  the  value  and  power  of  water." 

Inside  the  enclosure,  at  a  convenient  dis- 
tance from  the  canal,  a  building,  extending 
around  the  whole,  was  constructed,  in  the  form 
of  the  freight-houses  of  the  Black- Valley  Rail- 
road, the  material  having  been  gathered  from 
the  demolished  store-houses  which  the  flood 
liad  piled  up  along  the  road.  This  building 
was  designed  as  a  workshop  for  the  inmates. 
It  was  abundantly  supplied  with  water  for 
drinking  and  bathing,  and  also  for  propelling 
the  machinery  of  the  establishment,  steam 
being  regarded  as  dangerous  to  the  class  of 
persons  employed  in  the  institution. 

Inside  this  row  of  work-shops  were  located 
the  lodging-houses  of  the  prisoners.  These 
were  built  like  the  ddp6ts  of  the  Black- Valley 
Railroad,  and  principally  from  the  debris  of  the 
buildings  Avhich  the  flood  had  carried  quite  into 
this  country. 


164  BLACK-VALLET  COUNTRY. 

Inside  of  these  buildings  the  land  was  laid 
out  into  squares  and  small  lots,  around  each 
of  which  a  stream  of  water  was  kept  constant- 
ly flowing,  being  supplied  by  a  jet  of  water 
which  gushed  up  from  the  centre  of  each  lot. 

The  number  of  inmates  which  were  provided 
for  in  the  institution,  was  one  hundred  ihoiiu- 
%and;  being  one-fifth  of  the  number  engaged  in 
the  business  of  the  Black- Valley  Railroad 
Company. 

As  it  was  found  that  a  large  number  of  them 
could  sing  and  play  upon  musical  instruments, 
an  orchestra  was  formed,  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  the  influence  of  music  to  the  aid  of 
the  educational  influences  of  the  place.  After 
the  orchestra  was  organized  and  drilled  for  the 
purpose,  they  were  accustomed  to  sing  with 
instrumental  accompaniment  from  a  platform 
in  an  open  area,  located  in  plain  -sight  of  the 
great  inverted  decanter ;  and  evening,  just  as 
the  sun  was  setting,  was  commonly  chosen  as 
the  time  for  the  musical  performance. 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  165 

The  following  was  the  favorite  song  which 
the  groat  orchestra  and  choir  wt)ul(i  render 
with  tlie  most  thrilling  effect :  — 

SONG. 

•   In  Eden's  green  retreats, 
A  water-brook  that  played 
Between  soft  mossy  seats, 
Beneath  a  plane-tree's  shade, 

Wliose  rustling  leaves 
Danced  o'er  its  brink, 
Was  Adam's  drink, 
And  also  Eve's. 

Beside  the  parent  spring 

Of  that  young  brook,  the  pair 

Their  morning  chant  would  sing; 

And  Eve,  to  dress  her  Lair, 

Kneel  on  the  grass 
* 
That  fringed  its  side, 

And  make  its  tide 

Her  looking-glass. 


166  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

And  when  the  man  of  (Jod 
•  From  Egypt  led  his  flock, 
They  thirsted ;  and  his  rod 
Smote  the  Arabian  rock, 

And  forth  a  rill 
Of  water  gushed, 
And  on  they  rushed. 
And  drank  their  fill. 

Would  Eden  thus  have  smiled, 

Had  wine  to  Eden  come? 
Would  Horeb's  parching  wild  • 
Have  been  refreshed  with  rum  ? 

And  had  Eve's  hair 
Been  dressed  in  gin, 
Would  she  have  been  reflected  fair  ? 

Had  Moses  built  a  still, 

And  dealt  out  to  that  host, 
To  every  man  his  gill. 
And  pledged  him  on  a  toast, 
Would  cooler  brains 
^  Or  stronger  hands 

Have  braved  tlie  sands 
Of  those  hot  plains  ? 


■  BLACK-VALLEY-  RAILROAD,  167 

"  Sweet  fields  beyond  death's  flood 
Stand  dressed  in  living  green ;  " 
For  from  the  throne  of  God, 
To  freshen  aU  the  scene, 

A  river  rolls, 
^Vherc  all  who  will 
May  come  and  fill 
Their  crystal  bowls  I 

Should  God,  in  wrath,  ordain 

A  universal  dearth, 
What  need  he  do  but  rain 
On  all  this  green  glad  earth, 

From  cloudy  urns. 
The  curse  that  fills 
Our  vats  and  stills. 
That  blights  and  bums  ? 

Save  us  from  such  a  shower, 

Grod  of  the  eastern  bow ! 
That  pledge  of  love  and  power. 

What  bends,  what  paints  it  so  ?  — 


168  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

That  bow  on  air, 
'Tis  light  that  bends, 
Heaven's  light,  that  blends 

With  water  there. 

Let  light  on  water  shine,  — 

The  light  of  love  and  truth  ! 
Then  shall  that  drink  divine 
Be  quaffed  by  Age  and  Youth  ; 

And  as  that  bow 
Doth  heavenward  bend. 
Shall  heavenward  tend 
The  way  they  go. 

This  song  commonly  produced  the  wildest 
enthusiasm.  When  it  was  sung  at  evening, 
the  rays  of  the  setting  sun  falling  upon  the 
spray  of  tlie  water  projectiles  which  sur- 
rounded the  whole  area  of  the  institution,  filling 
the  air  with  floating  forms  of  beauty,  the  effect 
was  quite  indescribable.  By  moonlight,  when 
every  thing  was  still  except  the  sound  of  the 
water,  it  was  even  more  impressive.  When  this 
song   was  sung  in  the  daytime,  the  roar  and 


BLACK -r ALLEY  RAILROAD.  169 

clatter  of  the  machinery  seemed  to  form  a 
kind  of  sub-bass,  and  the  trip-haijimers  an- 
swered well  for  an  anvil  chorus ;  and  the  whole 
together  was  as  the  sound  of  many  waters 
when  .the  ocean,  stirred  by,  strong  winds,  is 
sounding  its  "  deep,  profound,  eternal  bass  in 
Nature's  great  anthem." 

At  times,  the  whole  vast  company  of  the  in- 
mates of  the  institution  seemed  inclined  to  unite 
their  voices  in  a  song.  At  such  times,  the  song 
seemed  to  fall  into  the  form  of  a  prayer,  which 
was  long  remembered  and  often  repeated  after 
the  inmates  left  the  institution.  The  following  is 
one  of  the  songs  which  was  fixed  in  the 
memory,  and  which  proved  a  talisman  to  many 
in  the  hour  of  temptation,  long  after  leaving 
the  place :  — 

Ye  gracious  clouds  I  ye  deep,  cold  wells  I 
Yo  gems,  from  mossy  rocks  that  drip  1 
Springs,  that  from  earth's  mysterious  cells 
Gush  o'er  your  granite  basin's  lip  I 


170  SLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

To  you  we  look :  your  largess  give, 
And  we  will  drink  of  you,  and  live. 

The  prisoners  were  divided  into  three  classes. 
Those  who  were  only  travellers  on  the  road, 
and  whose  crimes  had  been  committed  under 
the  influence  of  this  travel,  belonged  to  the 
first  class.  These,  on  being  introduced  into 
the  institution,  were  put  to  labor  on  the  part 
of  land  which  had  been  laid  out  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  on  which  they  were  to  labor  t^ 
hours  daily,  living  on  bread' and  water.  Those 
from  Medicineville,  of  whom  were  many 
females,  were  set  to  trimming  the  hedges,  and 
keeping  in  order  the  flower-beds  which  sur- 
round the  land-plats  already  described.  Ten 
hours  a  day,  with  bread  and  water,  and  a 
constant  sight  of  the  great  inverted  decanter, 
from  which  a  flood  of  water  was  constantly 
leaping  into  the  air,  imparted  great^ vigor  and 
cheerfulness  to  their  employments. 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  171 

In  the  second  class  were  the  ticket-sellers 
and  ddp6t-masters  upon  the  Black-Valley  Rail- 
road. These  were  put  to  hard  labor  in  the 
shops  ten  hours  a  day,  with  bread  and  water. 
This  regimen,  with  the  sight  and  sound  of  the 
rushing  water  all  around  them,  and  the  roar 
and  clatter  of  the  machinery  which  the  water 
was  driving  through  the  whole  extent  of  the 
vast  building,  seemed  to  impart  to  them  a 
vigor  and  elasticity  such  as  they  had  never 
experienced. 

In  the  third  class  were  the  stockholders  of 
the  Black- Valley  Railroad.  They  were,  for 
the  most  part,  men  of  great  corpulency,  which 
was  accounted  for  by  the  well-known  fact  that 
they  were  accustomed  to  swallow  travellers  on 
the  Black- Valley  Road  whenever  there  was 
opportunity.  On  this  account,  sailors  called 
them  land-sharJcs,  and  all  Fountainland  sailors 
gave  them  a  wide  berth.  Of  some  of  them  it 
was  reported  that  they  had  not  only  swallowed 


172  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

travellers,  but  ■whole  farms,  -svlth  houses  and 
stock.  These  corpulent  gentlemen  were  now 
formed  into  companies  to  act  as  waiters  to 
carry  water  to  the  prisoners.  To  reduce  their 
corpulency,  and  to  impart  a  more  impressive 
idea  of  the  power  of  water,  it  was  contrived 
to  give  them  a  ride  daily  upon  the  trip-ham- 
mers. It  was  arranged  that  this  should  take 
place  at  eleven  and  four  o'clock  each  day  ;  that 
being  the  hour  of  the  olden  time  when  all  the 
d6p6ts  of  the  Black- Valley  Railroad  were  open 
for  the  sale  of  tickets.  Sometimes  a  hundred 
at  a  time  were  placed  upon  as  many  of  these 
water-horses,  and  required  to  ride  until  they 
would  promise  to  deal  no  more  in  the  stocks 
of  the  Black- Valley  Railroad. 

The  effect  of  these  rides  upon  these  corpu- 
lent prisoners  was  very  salutary.  Their  cor- 
pulency was  rapidly  reduced,  and  their  general 
appearance  was  much  improved.  The  defiant 
bearing  which  they  formerly  showed   toward 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  173 

the  members  of  tlie  water-company  who  had 
been  instrumental  in  constructing  the  jn'eat 
aqueduct  which  had  flooded  the  Black- Valley 
Country  was  changed  to  a  submissive  de- 
meanor. Their  ideas,  too,  of  the  value  and 
power  of  water,  were  completely  revolutionized. 
The  laws  of  Fountainland,  as  well  as  its  insti- 
tutions and  customs,  they  thought  were  admi- 
rable ;  and  they  were  filled  with  wonder  that 
the  plan  for  renovating  the  Black- Valley  Coun- 
try, and  destroying  the  great  Railroad  which 
had  built  it  up,  had  not  been  thought  of  long 
before.  When  it  became  sufficiently  evident 
that  the  inmates  of  the  institution  had  become 
thoroughly  convinced  of  the  value  and  resist- 
less power  of  water,  they  were  -  discharged, 
upon  promising  that  they  would  never  engage 
in  any  department  of  the  business  of  the  Black- 
Valley  Railroad.  A  large  proportion  of  the 
discharged  convicts  became  useful  members  of 
society,  and  admirers  of  the  zeal  and  enterprise 


174 


BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 


of  the  great  water  company,  through  whose 
instrumentality  the  country  had  been  changed 
from  a  land  of  poverty  and  misery  into  a  land 
of  plenty  and  high  cultivation. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


Special  Commission  to  investigate  the  Origin 
of  the  yyater  which  had  swept  away  t7i,e 
Slack-  Valley  jR.ailroad.  —  Their  Report.  — 
Pleading  from,  an  cLncient  Sook.  —  Conctud- 
ding  irym,n. 

tFTER  numerous  observations  con- 
cerning the  quality  and  effects  of 
the  waters  which  had  wrought  such 
wonderful  changes  in  the  condition  of  the 
Black- Valley  Country,  it  was  determined  to 
make  a  thorough  investigation  of  their  origin. 
One  of  the  most  remarkable  facts  about  these 
waters  which  created  much  surprise,  was  their 
great  abundance.  The  supply  seemed  to  bo 
inexhaustible.      It  came  flowing  on    in  such 

175 


17G  BLACK  -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

quantities,  that  all  the  lands  were  irrigated ; 
and  even  the  GrcatT)esert,  which  had  drank  up 
all  other  streams,  was  quite  overflowed  ;  and 
the  "  dry  ground  was  turned  into  water- 
springs." 

Another  fact  about  the  water  was  its  great 
fertilizing  poiver.  Wlierever  it  flowed,  the 
country  became  greatly  productive,  and  even 
"  the  desert  blossomed  like  the  rose."  "Trees 
planted  by  this  river  always  brought  forth 
their  fruit  in  season  :  their  leaf,  also,  did  not 
wither."  Upon  the  banks  of  it,  "  the  hungry 
were  made  to  dwell,  and  to  prepare  cities  for 
habitation,  and  to  sow  fields,  and  plant  vine- 
yards, which  yielded  fruits  of  increase,"  in  the 
greatest  abundance,  and  "  good  wine  which 
maketh  glad  the  heart,"  without  poisoning  the 
brain,  being  the  pure  "fruit  of  the  vine,"  into 
which  the  fluid-devil  of  alcohol,  that  unclean 
spirit,  which  teareth  men,  and  causeth  them  to 
fall  on  the  ground,  and  wallow  foaming,  was 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  177 

not  permitted  to  enter  by  the  process  of  fermen- 
tation. 

Another  fact  about  these  waters,  which  had 
arrested  much  attention,  was,  that,  while  they 
abounded  in  fish,  iio  reptiles  of  a  destructive  na- 
ture could  live  in  them.  Sharks  and  Serpents 
and  Bloodsuckers  were  never  found  in  them  ; 
and,  if  placed  there,  would  immediately  die. 
Only  fish  of  the  useful  kind  could  live  in  these 
waters ;  and  they  were  found  m  great  abun- 
dance, "  as  the  fish  of  the  great  sea  exceeding 
many,"  so  that  the  fishermen  who  came  with 
their  nets  were  abundantly  rewarded  for  their 
labors. 

It  had  also  been  discovered  that  these  waters 
had  a  remarkable  medicinal  quality,  and  power 
of  imparting  health  and  strength  to  body  and 
mind.  Many  persons  who  were  accustomed  to 
the  u§e  of  them  in  good  faith  attained  an 
amount  of  physical  strength  which  was  some- 
times  marvellous.     It  was   related  of  one  of 

12 


178  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

them,  that,  when  a  young  Hon  roared  upon  him, 
lie  seized  the  huge  animal,  and  tore  him  to 
pieces,  rending  him  as  he  would  a  gentle  kid.  At 
another  time,  he  slew  a  thousand  men,  and  re- 
covered from  his  exhaustion  in  this  superhuman 
eflPort  by  the  use  of  this  invigorating  water. 

At  another  time,  when  a  company  of  men 
were  lying  in  wait  for  him  at  a  certain  city, 
intending  to  kill  him,  he  arose  at  midnight,  and 
took  the  doors  of  the  gate  of  the  city,  and  the 
two  posts,  and  went  away  with  them  upon  his 
shoulders,  without  staggering  as  much  as  ordi- 
nary men  do  with  a  single  "  brick  in  their  hat ;  " 
and  also,  upon  another  occasion,  he  seized  the 
two  middle  pillars  of  a  great  temple,  where 
thousands  were  assembled  to  make  sport  of 
him,  and  dragged  the  temple  down,  overwhelm- 
ing them  in  ruin,  to  the  amazement  of  all  be- 
holders. 

Of  another  water-drinker,  it  was  related 
that  he  grew  fair  and  beautiful  and  strong,  so 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  179 

that  he  went  into  a  den  of  lions,  and  came  out 
uninjured;- and  also  into  a  fierj  furnace  seven 
times  heated,  and  came  out  without  the  smell 
of  fire  upon  him,  while  the  flames  consumed 
those  that  cast  him  into  the  furnace. 

It  was  also  related,  that  a  great  company  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  had  made  a  journey 
of  forty  years  through  a  vast  •^ilderness,  drink- 
ing only  water ;  and  also  that  upon  the  land 
and  upon  the  sea  this  water  was  working  won- 
ders. 

In  view  of  all  these  remarkable  facts,  an  ex- 
ploring company,  made  up  of  a  party  of  scientific 
gentlemen,  was  sent  to  Fountainland,  to  make 
a  thorough  investigation  of  the  question  of  the 
origin  of  these  waters.  This  company  immedi- 
ately addressed  themselves  to  the  work  ;  and, 
after  many  observations  and  careful  inquiries, 
repox'ted  that  the  fountainhead  of  these  waters 
was  from  the  Temphs  of  Fomitainland.     Fi-oni 


180  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY     ' 

all  the  Temples  which /acec?  the  rising  sun,  and 
in  which  the  priest  stood  at  the  right  side  of  the 
altar,  "  the  waters  came  down  from  under  the 
right  side  of  the  house ;  "  so  that  at  each  of 
these  temples  there  was  a  living  spring,  forming 
a  rivulet  which  irrigated  and  enriched  the  sur- 
rounding region.  It  was  also  discovered,  that, 
from  the  temples  which  faced  the  setting  sun, 
no  water  issued»from  under  the  threshold  of 
the  house.  No  springs  could  be  found  in  the 
vicinity  of  this  class  of  temples  ;  and  the 
ground  was  always  dry  and  dusty,  so  that  the 
whole  neighborhood  was  parched  and  desolate, 
barren  and  comfortless,  while  around  all  the 
other  class  of  temples  the  country  was  rich 
and  well-watered ;  and  "  sweet  fields  arrayed  in 
living  green  "  greeted  the  eye  of  the  traveller 
upon  every  side.  It  was  found  also  that  many 
of  the  worshippers  in  the  temples  which  faced 
the  setting  sun  made  occasional  pilgrimages  into 
the  Black- Valley  Country  j  being  stockholders 


BLACK'-VALLET  RAILROAD.  181 

in  the  gi'eat  Black- Valley  Road,  and  having 
intimate  relations  with  the  Prince  of  the  coun- 
try. It  was  also  discovered  that  the  principal 
service  in  which  the  priests  of  these  temples 
engaged,  consisted  in  denouncing  the  infidelity 
and  fanaticism  of  those  who  worshipped*  in  the 
temples  which  faced  the  rising  sun  ;  and  also 
that  many  of  the  priests  made  frequent  pil- 
grimages into  the  Black- Valley  Country,  going, 
as  they  said,  in  pursuit  of  their  flocks,  many  of 
whom  had  travelled  far  down  into  those  re- 
gions of  drought  and  darkness. 

While  the  exploriag  cpmpany  were  making 
their  report  concerning  the  origin  of  these  re- 
markable waters,  a  man  of  grave  countenance, 
clad  in  the  costume  of  an  ancient  seer,  arose  in 
the  great  assembly  which  was  convened  to 
hear  the  result  of  this  investigation,  and  asked 
the  privilege  of  reading  from  a  very  ancient 
volume,  which  he  indicated  Avould  probably 
throw  new  light  upon  this  interesting  subject, 


182  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

and  furnish  much  valuable  information.  Per- 
mission being  granted,  he  read  as  foUoM's,  while 
the  great  company  listened  with  profound  at- 
tention :  — 

"  Afterward  he  brought  me  again  unto  the 
door  of  the  house ;  and  behold,  waters  issued 
out  from  under  the  threshold  of  the  house  east- 
ward: for  the  forefront  of  the  house  stood 
toward  the  east,  and  the  waters  catne  down 
from  under  from  the  right  side  of  the  house, 
at  the  south  side  of  the  altar.  The7i  brought 
he  me  out  of  the  "diay  of  the  gate  northward, 
and  led  me  about  the  way  without  unto  the 
outer  gate  by  the  way  that  looketh  eastward ; 
and  behold  tJiere  ran  out  waters  on  the  right 
side.  And  when  the  man  that  had  the  line  in 
his  hand  went  forth  eastward,  he  meastired  a 
thousand  cubits,  and  he  brought  me  through 
the  waters ;  the  waters  were  to  the  ankles. 
Again  he  measured  a  thousand,  and  brought 
me  through  the  waters  ;  the  waters  were  to  the 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  183 

knejs.  Again  he  tneasiired  a  thousand,  and 
brought  me  through;  the  waters  were  to 
the  loins.  Afterward  he  measured  a  thoti— 
sand;  and  it  was  a  river  that  I  could  not  pass 
over:  for  the  zvatcrs  were  risefi,  waters  to 
swim  171,  a  river  that  could  not  be  passed  over. 
And  he  said  unto  me,  Son  of  man,  hast  thou 
seen  this  ?  Then  he  brought  me,  and  caused 
me  to  return  to  the  brink  of  the  river.  Now,  • 
when  I  had  returned,  behold,  dt  the  bank  of  the 
.  fiver  were  very  many  trees,  on  the  one  side  and 
on  the  other.  Then  said  he  unto  me.  These 
waters  issue  out  toward  the  east  country,  and 
go  dow7i  into  the  desert,  and  go  into  the  sea : 
which  being  brought  forth  into  the  sea,  the 
waters  shall  be  healed.  And  it  shall  come  to 
pass,  that  every  tiling  that  liveth,  which 
moveth,  whithersoever  the  rivers  shall  come, 
sJtall  live:  and  there  shall  be  a  very  great 
multittcde  of  fish,  because  these  waters  shall 
come  thither:  for  they  shall  be  healed:  and 


184  BLACE-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

every  thing  shall  live  whither  the  river  comeih. 
And  by  the  river,  upon  the  bank  thereof,  on  this 
side  and  on  that  side,  shall  grow  all  trees  for 
meat,  whose  leaf  shall  not  fade,  neither  shall 
the  fruit  thereof  be  consumed:  it  shall  bring 
forth  new  fruit  according  to  its  months,  be- 
cause their  waters  they  issued  out  of  the  sanc- 
tuary :  and  the  fruit  thereof  shall  be  for  meat, 
and  the  leaf  thereof  for  medicine."  —  Ez.  xlvii. 

The  date  of  this  document  was  the  year  of 
the  world  3430,  being  574  years  before  the 
Christian  era.  When  this  extract  from  the 
ancient  volume  had  been  read,  another  portion, 
bearing  a  later  date  by  six  hundred  years,  was 
read  as  follows  :  — 

"  And  he  showed  me  a  pure  river  of  water  of 
lift,  clear  as  crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the 
throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb.  In  the  midst 
of  the  street  of  it.,  and  on  either  side  of  the 
river.,  was  there  the  tree  of  life,  which  bare 
twelve  manner  of  fruits,  and  yielded  her  fruit 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  185 

every  month ;  and  the  leaves  of  the  tree  were 
for  the  healing  of  the  nations^ 

The  reading  of  these  exti'acts  from  the  an- 
cient book  created  a  profound  sensation  in  the 
minds  of  all  present.  Some  were  surprised  to 
learn  of  the  existence  of  such  a  river.  Others 
declared  that  thej  had  heard  of  it,  but  had  no 
adequate  conception  of  its  magnitude  or  of  the 
quality  of  its  waters:  while  others  declared 
that  they  had  often  stood  by  the  side  of  this 
stream,  and  drank  of  it^  waters,  and  seen  how 
the  desert  had  been  made  to  blossom  like  the 
rose  by  its  fertilizing  influence.  While  these 
testimonies  were  being  given  in,  the  interest 
continued  to  increase,  until  the  whole  vast  as- 
sembly, which  had  been  giving  their  attention 
to  the  subject,  were  profoundly  impressed  with  a 
feeling  of  wonder  and  amazement,  and  with 
united  voices,  as  the  "  sound  of  many  waters," 
rising  to  their  feet,  they  sang,  — 


186  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

"  Great  Source  of  being  and  of  love, 
Thou  waterest  all  the  worlds  above  ; 
And  all  the  joys  which  mortals  know 
From  thine  exhaustless  fountain  flow. 

A  sacred  stream,  at  thy  command. 
From  Zion's  Mount  in  Canaan's  land, 
Beside  Thy  temple  cleaves  the  ground, 
And  pours  its  limpid  stream  around. 

The  limpid  stream  with  sudden  force 
Swells  to  a  river  in  its  course  ; 
Through  desert  resims  its  windings  play. 
And  scatter  blessings  all  the  way. 

Close  by  its  banks,  in  order  fair. 
The  blooming  trees  of  life  appear  : 
Their  blossoms  fragrant  odors  give, 
And  on  their  iruit  the  nations  live. 

Flow,  wondrous  stream,  with  glory  crowned, 
Flow  on  to  earth's  remotest  bound. 
And  bear  us  on  thy  gentle  wave 
To  Him  who  all  thy  virtues  gave. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

The  Sorder  Country.  —  ;d  2)ifficuUy  between 
the  Fotmiahitand  and  Tojvbakowland  Hoys 
settled.  —  Changes  in  'Public  Sentiment.  — 
^r.  Fumus  and  a  Chewington  Gentleman 
change  their  Habits.  —  Water  introduced, 

'    — Memorial  J^ountain,  &c. 


JglRECTLY  upon  the  borders  of  the 
Black-Valley  Country  lies  the  great 
Tovvbakowland  Country,  through 
which  multitudes  find  their  way  to  the  upper 
terminus  of  the  Black- Valley  Railroad,  where 
they  are  "  taken  in  "  for  their  first  excursions. 
Many  who  come  from  Fountainland  into  this 
border   country,   with   no    intention  of   going 

187     - 


188  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

beyond,  are  induced  by  the  influences  of  the 
place  to  advance  farther  ;  until  at  length  they 
find  themselves  far  down  on  the  Black- Valley 
Road,  the  customs,  habits,  and  business  of  the 
place  all  being  favorable  to  that  result. 

The  Towbakowland  Country  is  divided  into 
three  principal  sections,  called  Snuffington, 
Puifington,  and  Chewington,  each  section  being 
distinguished  by  its  own  peculiarities.  The 
people  of  Snuffington  find  that  their  noses  are 
set  upon  their  faces  upside  down,  for  the  prin- 
cipal purpose  for  which  they  wish  to  use  them, 
unless  they  stand  upon  their  heads.  The 
Puffington  people  find  it  necessary  to  attach  an 
artificial  tube  of  some  sort  to  their  mouths,  in 
order  suitably  to  narcotize  the  air  which  they 
breathe ;  while  the  Chewington  people  have 
great  trouble  and  inconvenience  on  account 
of  the  superabundant  action  of  the  salivary 
glands  producing  a  necessity  for  constant 
spitting. 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  189 

Midway  of  the  great  plain  in  which  the 
country  is  situated  is  a  broad  thoroughfare,  hav- 
ing a  descending  grade  toward  Sippington.  Over 
this  dry  and  smooth  road,  stages  and  coaches, 
omniDuses  and  private  carriages,  are  constantly 
running,  causing  immense  clouds  of  dust  and 
smoke  to  fill  the  air,  and  hang  over  the  land 
like  a  thick  fog,  more  especially  as  the  roads 
are  never  sprinkled,  on  account  of  the  scarcity 
of  water. 

These  carriages  are  constantly  loaded  with 
young  i^ople,  many  of  whom  are  boys,  on 
their  way  to  the  Black- Valley  Country. 
During  their  first  excursions,  they  are  fre- 
quently very  sick  ;  so  that  it  is  no  uncommon 
event  to  see  them  looking  pale  and  ghastly,  as 
if  they  would  welcome  death  as  a  friend  if  he 
would  give  them  relief:  but  as  their  honor  is  at 
stake,  and  custom  makes  it  honorable  to  be  able 
to  take  these  excursions,  they  usually  perse- 
vere until  the  nausea  ceases,  when  they  reckon 


190  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

themselves   to  have  attamed  to  an    honorable 
manhood.  . 

At  times,  the  clouds  of  smoke  which  hano; 
over  the  great  thoroughfare  are  carried  by  the 
wind  over  large  portions  of  the  Fountamland 
Country,  producing  sickness  and  retching ;  so 
that  the  people  are  obliged  to  keep  their  win- 
dows closed,  or  live  within  doors.  On  this 
account,  serious  misunderstandings  sometirpes 
arise  between  the  inhabitants  of  the  two  sec- 
tions of  country.  The  Fountainland  people 
complain  that  this  smoke  is  a  nuisance,  against 
which  they  have  a  right  to  be  protected ;  and 
that  it  is  uncivil  on  the  parrt  of  the  Towbakow- 
land  people  to  contaminate  the  common  air 
with-  it.  To  this  the  Towbakowland  people 
reply.  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth ;  and 
we  cannot  tell  whence  it  cometh,  or  whither  it 
goeth,  with  our  smoke.  In  order  to  show 
them  how  this  principle  works  when  fairly 
carried  out,  the  Fountainland  boys,  by  the  aid 


BLACK-VALLEY  RAILROAD.  191 

of  some  huge  India-rubber  bags  prepared  for 
the  purpose,  contrived  to  fill  the  whole  atmos- 
phere with  a  nauseating  gas  while  the  wind 
was  blowinor  toward  their  neighbors.  This  gas 
caused  so  much  sickness,  that  the  people 
thought  the  black-vomit  had  broken  out  among 
them.  This  created  great  excitement  and 
alarm.  Many  were  completely  prostrated  by 
the  feeling  of  distress  wliich  came  upon  them. 
Others,  not  knowing  what  the  matter  was, 
meditated  sympathetically  upon  the  sufferings , 
of  the  whale  when  getting  ready  to  cast  Jonah 
upon  the  shore.  In  this  condition  of  things, 
retching  and  wretched,  they  despatched  messen- 
gers to  the  Fountainland  doctors  to  come  with 
liaste  to  their  relief.  Before  the  doctors 
arrived,  the  Fountainland  boys  explained  the 
whole  matter  ;  adding.  The  wind  bloweth 
where  it  listeth,  and  we  cannot  tell  whither  it 
goeth,  with  our  gas;  but  tliis  we  can  tell,  that 
fresh  air  will  soon  bring  relief  to  all  suflferers  : 


192  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

and,  promising  to  call  it  even  if  they  would 
hereafter  keep  their  smoke  at  home,  the  matter 
was  settled  without  a  war. 

In  process  of  time,  the  customs  and  habits  of 
Fountainland  began  to  be  introduced,  to  the 
great  satisfaction  of  the  mothers  and  daughters 
of  the  land.  Frequent  communications  with 
the  people  of  Fountainland  had  produced  the 
conviction,  that  the  habits  of  the  people,  and  the 
general  cleanliness  of  j;he  place,  had  contrib- 
uted much  to  its  healthfulness  and  prosperity. 
Ladies  from  Snuffington  noticed,  that,  while  on 
their  visits  to  Fountainland,  the  people  stared 
at  them  and  smiled  when  they  indulged  in  their 
favorite  habit,  and  always  expressed  great  sur- 
prise when  invitsd  to  participate.  The  Puffing- 
ton  ladies  discovered  that  their  husbands  and 
sons  were  always  unhappy  when  in  Fountain- 
land  ;  because  the  customs  of  the  place  were 
such,  that  they  could  not  use  their  favorite 
fumiirators  without  seeminir  to  be  rude. 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  193 

It  is  related  of  a  distinguished  clergyman  of 
PufEngton,  Dr.  Furftus,  that  while  attending 
a  great  religious  meetiug  in  Fountainland,  and 
receivino;  entertainment  in  an  elegant  mansion 
where  the  lady  of  the  house  was  known  to  be 
very  averse  to  the  habits  of  the  Puffington 
people,  rising  early  in  the  morning,  he  pros- 
trated himself  upon  the  floor,  with  his  head 
in  the  fireplace,  whose  chimney  carried  off  all 
sinoke,  where  he  seemed  to  be  breathing  with 
great  difficulty.  His  wife,  seeing  him  in  this 
condition,  was  much  'alarmed,  and  exclaimed, 
"What  ails  you,  my  dear  ?  are  you  dying?" 
Out  of  all  patience  with  himself,  he  replied, 
"  Offering  a  stench-offering  to  the  Devil,  my 
dear  !  "  and  immediately  arose,  and,  crushing  his 
fumigating  tube  under  his  heels  upon  the 
hearth,  exclaimed,  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan ! 
thou  savorest  not  of  the  things  of  God,  or  of 
God's  ambassador's  to  men."  After  which,  the 
savor  of  his  habit  ceased  to  exhale  from  him, 

13 


194  BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

to  die  great  joy  of  liis  wife,  and  to  tlie  great 
advantage  of  the  young  men  who  had  been 
much  influenced  by  his  example. 

It  is  related  also  of  a  Chewington  military 
gentleman,  whose  health  was  failing,  and  whose 
nervous  system  was  much  deranged,  that  his 
jaw  was  one  day  broken  by  the  kick  of  his 
horse.  This  put  a  stop  to  his  masticating 
habit  for  many  months,  during  which  time  his 
health  was  completely  restored  :  whereupon  he 
rode  through  the  whole  district  of  Chewington, 
offering  the  gratuitous  use  of  the  heels  of  his 
horse  to  all  who  were  in  the  same  bondage  in 
which  he  came  so  near  to  dying. 

These  facts,  with  many  others  which  were 
extensively  cii'culated,  pi'oduced  a  great  smoke 
of  excitement  through  the  whole  Towbakow- 
land  Country.  Rev.  Solomon  Spittle,  whose 
influence  had  led  many  young  men  to  settle 
down  in  Chewington,  renounced  his  habit,  and 
got  his  name  changed  to  Waterman. 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  195 

In  connection  witli  the  discussion  of  this  sub- 
ject, the  people  learned  that  what  they  called 
a  luxury  was  doing  them  a  great  injury,  and 
costing  them  more  than  their  bread. 

After  the  great  change  in  the  condition  of 
things  in  the  Black- Valley  Country  by  reason 
of  the  flood,  the  people  of  Towbakowland 
found  that  the  great  market  for  their  principal 
product  was  gone,  as  the  patrons  of  the  Black- 
Valley  Railroad  were  the  principal  purchasers 
of  their  staple  product.  They  discovered,  too, 
that  the  soil  had  been  much  exhausted  by  the 
crops  which  they  had  been  taking  from  it. 
The  fertility  of  the  Black- Valley  Country,  from 
the  effects  of  irrigation,  also  arrested  their 
attention,  and  rapidly  brought  the  people  to  the 
conviction  that  their  old  business  must  be 
abandoned  in  order  to  secure  the  golden 
harvests  which  each  autumn  was  bringing  to 
their  neighbors,  whose  farms  had  been  so  com- 
pletely renovated   by  the   use  of    water.     In 


196  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

fine,  tlicy  found  that  they  were  falling  rapidly 
behind  their  neighbors,  whose  cleanly  houses, 
and  well-kept  fields,  and  irrigated  gardens,  pre- 
sented a  painful  contrast  when  compared  with 
the  dry,  dusty,  smoky,  and  filthy  condition  of 
things  among  themselves. 

Water  began  now  to  be  popular.  Those 
who  drank  it  found  that  their  health  was  much 
improved ;  and  those  who  used  it  upon  their 
lands  found  that  a  blessing  was  in  it,  of  more 
value  than  gold. 

In  view  of  this  state  of  things,  it  was  re- 
solved to  introduce  ivater  into  every  part  of 
the  country ;  and  as  the  water  of  the  great 
Crystal  River  was  free  and  abundant,  and  on 
such  an  elevation  above  them  that  a  powerful 
pressure  could  be  secured,  it  was  resolved  to 
construct  an  immense  aqueduct,  so  that  every 
farm  and  house  in  the  land  could  be  sup- 
plied. 

It  was  also  resolved  to  make  a  bonfire   of 


BLACK -VALLEY  RAILROAD.  197 

their  favorite  plant,  and  to  substitute  a  crop 
less  injurious  to  their  lands,  and  which  would  be 
useful  to  tlieir  families  and  -to  others,  and,  in 
future,  more  sure  of  a  regular  sale  in  the  mar- 
ket. Accordingly,  they  brought  together  the 
unsavory  contents  of  their  storehouses  into  one 
vast  pile.  Around  this  they  built  a  circular 
•wall  out  of  a  material  composed  of  the  crushed 
tubes  and  bowls  of  their  furaio-atino;  instru- 
ments,  wrought  into  brick  under  the  heavy 
hydraulic  pressure  which  the  Fountainland 
water  now  abundantly  supplied.  When  the 
whole  was  completed,  fire  was  set  to  the 
accumulated  mass  inside  the  enclosure ;  and 
immediately  a  smoke  like  the  smoke  of  a  great 
furnace  rose  into  the  clear  air,  covering  tho 
whole  heavens  as  with  "  blackness  of  darkness." 
In  process  of  time,  the  cloud  of  smoke  cleared 
away ;  and,  preparations  having  been  previously 
made,  the  aqueduct  from  the  great  Crystal 
River  was  opened  into  it,  and  every  house  in 


198  BLACK -VALLEY  COUNTRY. 

Towbakowland  was  supplied  with  an  abun- 
dance of  water  from  the  "  Memorial  Fountain," 
now  completed. 

The  introduction  of  water  produced  immedi- 
ately the  anticipated  results.  The  air,  which 
before  was  filled  with  smoke,  became  clear  and 
inviojoratincr.  The  streets  and  houses  of 
Chewington,  which,  before  the  introduction  of 
water,  were  extremely  filthy,  became  clean* 
The  fields,  in  their  season,  waved  with  the  prod- 
ucts of  the  soil,  now  made  fertile  by  water  ; 
and  the  golden  harvest  of  the  autumn  brought 
with  it  such  crops  as  rewarded  more  abun- 
dantly than  ever  the  toils  of  those  who  upon 
the  well-watered  lands  prosecuted  their  easy 
labors  where  once  with  faint  hearts  and  foul 
hands,  amid  nauseating  smells,  they  gathered 
the  crops  of  former  days. 

When  this  great  work  was  accomplished,  it 
was  resolved  to  celebrate  the  occasion  with 
suitable  commemorative  services. 


BLACK 'VALLEY  RAILROAD.  199 

Gen.  Chew  Cliaw,  whose  horse  had  saved 
his  life  by  a  kick  in  the  jaw,  Avas  appointed 
marshal  of  the  day,  and,  by  special  requqgt, 
rode  his  favorite  charger,  whose  "neck  was 
clothed  with  thunder,"  and  whose  heels,  as  ho 
had  occasion  to  know,  were  charged  with  light- 
ning, always  ready  to  do  a  good  deed  wherever 
required.  Hon.  Mr.  Drinkwater,  President  of 
the  Fountainland  Water  Company,  presided, 
making  a  glowing  speech  on  the  cleansing, 
sanitary,  and  fertilizing  power  of  water ;  dwell- 
ing especially  upon  its  use  in  Scripture  as  a 
symbol  of  Christian  truth  and  spiritual  life. 
Dr.  Fumus  offered  prayer,  in  which  he 
recognized  with  gratitude  his  deliverance  from 
bondage ;  and  Rev.  Mr.  Waterman  read  suit- 
able selections  of  Sci'ipture,  closing  with  the 
words  of  Jesus,  "But  the  water  that  I  sliall 
give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water 
springing  up  into  everlasting  life  ;  "  after  which 
numerous  congratulatory  speeches  were  made, 


200 


BLACK-VALLEY  COUNTRY. 


and  the  service  brought   to  a  close,  all  uniting 
in  singing,  — 

"  That  sacred  stream,  Thy  holy  Word, 
Our  grief  allays,  our  fear  controls  ; 
Sweet  peace  thy  promises  afford, 

And  give  new  streno-th  to  fainting  souls." 


DR.   THOMAS   SEWALL'S    DIAGRAMS 


Showing  the  internal  condition  of  Travellers 


AT  BIPPINGTOJif. 
laflaisedi 


AT  TOPEESVILLE. 
Poison  indicated. 


OF   THE    HUMAN   STOMACH, 


t  different  places  in  the  "  Black  Valley  Country." 


AT  DRDNKAED'S  CURVE. 
Biseased. 


AT  DELIEIUMTOlSr. 
Blood  coagalated. 


AT  DESTEUOTION. 
Discrj^anixed. 


One  of  the  most  emphatic  temperance  lectures  that  could  possibly 
be  addressed  to  either  eye  or  ear.  I  have  seen  its  cttects  upon  an 
intelligent  audience,  and  am  persuaded  that  it  contains  the  largest 
variety  of  admonitions  compressed  into  the  smallest  compass.  It 
would  seem  as  if  no  man  could  loolc  on  that  picture,  and  still  daro  to 
keep  his  seat  on  the  13.  V.  U.  R.  train."—  Prof.  J,  S.  Sewall,  Uoio- 
doin  College. 

"  Admirably  adapted  to  remind  the  observer  of  the  terrible  conse- 
quences of  intemperance,  and  thus  to  aid  the  great  cause  of  total  ab- 
ptinenco,  especially  for  schools  among  the  freed  people  ofthe  South, 
Sabbath  schools,  &c." — Major  Gen.  0.  O.  Howard,  Irashinrjton, 
D.  C. 

"  A  new,  cheap  Temperance  LecUirer,  who  cats  nothing,  drinl?9 
notliing,  requires  no  salary.  .  .  .  The  friends  of  temperance  would 
do  a  m»st  valuable  service  to  the  cause,  at  a  cheap  rate,  by  placing 
this  picture  in  railroad  depots,  post-offices,  public  scliools.  and  all 
other  public  places  where  it  could  be  admitted,  constantly  to  read 
its  feai-ful  lessons  and  give  its  much  needed  warning." —  Christian 
World. 

' '  A  happy  conception .  Catches  the  eye,  and  arrests  attention ,  and 
must  awaken  thought.  I  hope  it  will  be  widely  circulated."  —  Sam- 
uel Harris,  President  Bowdoin  College. 

"  Excellent !  I  hope  it  will  be  scattered  wherever  English  can  be 
understood.''  —  Prof.  A.  Phelps,  Andover,  Mass. 

"  Capital !  capital !  It  ia  a  minnie-ball,  and  will  do  execution."  — 
Jiev.  L.  Swain,  Providence. 

"  You  have  struck  upon  a  rich  vein  In  your  '  Black-Valley  Rail- 
road." There  is  ingenuity  —  I  had  almost  said  genius  —  enough  in 
It  to  immorialize  the  author."  —  Prof.  Wm.  S.  Tyler,  Amherst  Col- 
lege. 

"I  am  fully  impr<?8sed  with  the  belief  that  it  must  be  of  great 
service  in  impressing  upon  young  people  the  great  danger  of  using 
strong  drink."  —  Prof.  Edward  Hitchcock,  Amherst  College. 

''Word-pictures,  it  has  been  said,  are  often  mighty;  but  with  such 
an  aid  as  your  literal  exhibition,  '  a  force  is  given  all  force  excell- 
ing.' I  tliink  it  sliould  be  suspended  at  every  Temperance  Conven- 
tion, and  the  freest  reference  made  to  it  by  ail  who  speak."  —  Hon. 
David  Choate,  Essex,  Mass. 

"  Calcul.ited  to  produce  a  lasting  impression  upon  the  minds  of 
the  young.  I  wish  a  copy  of  it  might  be  hung  up  in  every  school- 
room and  bar-room  in  the  land."  —  Prof.  E.  N.  Bartlett,  OberUn 
College. 

"  This  picture  shows  to  the  inebriate  where  he  is  and  his  means 
of  escape.  He  may  read  volumes  at  a  glance  In  tliis  wonderful 
Bcene.  A  man  must  be  liard  indeed  who  would  pursue  the  fatal 
course  when  once  it  has  been  so  vividly  portrayed.  AVe  recommend 
tills  picture  to  our  teacher  friends  as  a  most  valuable  aid  in  estab- 
lishing good  morals  and  correct  habits  in  the  minds  of  the  young." 
—  The  Jihode -Island  Schoolmaster. 

'•The  pupil  of  the  eye  takes  in  knowledge  with  great  readiness. 
Men  whose  other  senses  are  destroyed  by  the  paralysis  of  nppelilo 
or  greed  open  wide  their  eyes  when  they  see  the  '  engine,'  wlln  the 
Evil  One  for  stoker,  and  grain  for  fuel,  crashing  down  to  Drunkards' 
Curve,  on  its  steep,  crooked  way  to  Destruction."  — i?os<on  Be- 
eorder. 


From  the  Congregationalist. 

We  do  not  see  how  anything  could  be  more  complete  or  effective  for 
its  purpose.  There  is  a  stroke  of  genius  in  the  very  title,  and  a  vein 
of  humor  runs  all  the -way  through.  Not  only  is  it  a  literary  success 
but  a  work  in  the  interest  of  temperance  and  humanity — of  virtue  and 
religion  for  which  we  are  sure  any  good  citizen  and  every  Christian  will 
thank  the  author.  Under  the  guise  of  a  skillful  allegory  it  portrays 
the  evils  of  intemperance,  and  the  desolation  wrought  by  the  liquor 
trafic — showing  by  wliat  insidious  steps  and  under  what  plausible  pleas 
the  habit  of  drinking  is  begun  and  confirmed,  and  describes  the  begin- 
ning and  progress  of  the  temperance  reform,  license  prohibition  &c. 
*  *  *  Altogether  it  is  a  skillful  argument  and  powerful  appeal  *  *  * 
the  illustratioAS  are  striking— indeed,  everytliing  in  the  volume  is 
made  to  tell. 

Fi-om  Dr.  Cluzrles  Jewett. 

I  have  read  your  work,  the  Black  Valley,  with  intense  interest. 
Since  the  days  of  Bunyan  and  his  immortal  work  the  PUrjrimn'  Prog- 
ress, I  doubt  if  there  has  ever  been  published  an  allegory  calculated  to 
centribute  so  much  to  the  education  and  reformation  ot  this  drunken 
an^  sin  cursed  world. 

From  Rev.  Mortimer  Blake,  D.D. 

The  "Black  "Valley"  is  one  of  those  happy  conrjoptiona  which  rise 
almost  to  an  inspiration.  It  just  tolls  the  story  of  the  downward  pro- 
gress of  drinking,  in  a  figure  which  everybody,  even  the  child,  can  un- 
deistand,  and  with  a  f.oscination  which  compels  the  traveler  on  that 
road  to  road  it  to  the  bitter  en  1.  Tho  b  )ok  and  the  illustrative  pic- 
ture ought  to  bo  in  every  ^5abbath  school  library,  and  in  every  hotel, 
steamboat,  rail  car  and  sailing  yacht,  and  wherever  else  tickets  on 
the  Black  Valley  JBaihoad  are  sold. 

From  the  Advance. 
Admirably  fitted  to  warn  the  old  and  the  young.    Should  be  In  every 
Simday  school  in  the  land. 

From  the  Nation. 

Original  In  conception  and  style,  just  tho  thing  needed,  and  will  be 
read  everywhere  with  interest  and  profit. 

From  the  Temperance  Press. 

It  presents,  in  a  Tray  that  cannot  fail  to  arrest  attention,  the  terrible 
results  of  the  liquor  traffic  and  the  folly  of  tho  habit  of  using  intoxicat- 
ing drink.  Should  be  iii  every  family Jind  Sabbath  school,  and  in  the 
hands  of  every  young  man. 

From  Rev.  Joseph  II.  Tovme,  D.  D. 

The  best  Allegory  since  the  Pilgrims'  Progress.  It  is  like  a  "sharp 
razor  working  deceitfully."  It  will  be  a  powerful  dissuasive  from  trav- 
el in  the  Blacli  Valley  County,  except  to  those  who  are  already  beyond 
Idiot  Flats. 

From  J.  D.  Fulton,  D.  D. 

Should  be  welcomed  to  every  Sabbath  school  Library  and  every  flro- 
Bide  in  the  land. 

From  Daa.  E.  W.  Starrs,  Longmeadow. 

I  have  read  the  Black  Valley  with  unexpected  interest.    From  tho 

'  dark  and  sombre  beginning  to  the  glorious  ending,  I  was  filled  with 

alternating  and  constantly  increasing  emotions  of  horror  and  delight. 

It  is  a  wonderful  book.    The  testimonials  I  am  constrained  to  feel>  fall 

far  short  of  expressing  my  opinion  of  its  value. 


THE  BLACK  VALLEY  RAILROAD. 


An  Allegorical  Picture,  designed  to  impress  upon  the  mind  through 
the  eye  the  Evils  of  rntempcrauce,  and  present  .the  Scriptural 
and  Physiological  Argument  against  the  use  of  Intoxicating 
Drink,  is  now  puhlished  from  an  improved  design  in  the  bcaatil 

ful  style  of  CnROMO-LlTHOGKAPUT. 

By  the  aid  of  brilliant  colors  the  representation  Is  made  attractive 
as  well  as  impressive.  At  the  bottom  of  the  new  picture  are 
printed  the  famous  diagrams  by  Dr.  Sewell,  showing  the  eflfects  of 
strong  drink  upon  the  human  stomach,  the  whole  exhibiting  at  a 
glance  the  consequ€7ices  of  intemperance.  Pastors,  Sabbath-school 
Superintendents,  and  Teachers  can  use  this  docmnent  with  great 
cfl'oct.  In  show-windows,  d^pdts,  halls,  &c.,  it  can  he  used  to 
preach  Temperance  to  the  passing  crowd  who  would  not  otherwise 
be  reached.  "  It  is  a  sugar-coated  pill  readily  taken,  and  loses  none 
of  its  virtues  by  what  is  upon  the  outside."  It  has  already  saved 
many  from  a  drunkard's  grave. 

At  the  enas  of  the  picture,  upon  a  scroll,  are  the  names  of  the 
places  through  which  the  trains  move  on  their  way  to  the  regions  of 
serpents,  demons,  storms,  fire,  and  darkness;  viz.,  Sippinglon,  Tip- 
pleton.  Topersville,  Drunkards'  CuiTe,  llowdyville,  Quarrelton, 
Klotville,  Beggarstown,  Woeland,  Gamblersville,  Fightington, 
Brothelton,  Pitifall,  Robbers'  Den,  Prisonton,  Dcliriumton,  Demon- 
land,  llorncts'-Xest  Thicket,  Scrcech-Owl  Forest,  Ilorrorland, 
Serpentland.  Maniacville,  Idiot  Flats,  Bi.'xck  Valley  Stormland 
Thunderland,  Tornado  Gorge,  Flood-crossing,  Dijstkuction. 

Under  each  name  upon  the  scroll  an  appropriate  text  of  Sciipture 
Is  printed;  the  whole  being  arranged  so  that  the  eve  at  a  glance 
takes  in  the  whole  idea  of  THE  DUUXKAllD'S  ROAD  TO  RUIN. 

This  document  is  published  in  eight  forms,  and  mailed  to  any 
address.  No.  1  is.a  Colored  Lithograph  — 2  by  4  feet — for  Sabbath 
Schools,  Halls,  &c.,  price  $5.00;  No.  2,  Colored  Lithograph,  20  by 
S4  Inches,  price  $1.00;  No.  3,  19  by  14  inches,  new  edition  in  five 
brilliant  oil  colors,  with  Dr.  Sewell's  stomach  diagrams,  showing 
the  internal  condition  of  travellers,  price  25  cents;  No.  4  in  water- 
colors,  10  ccnte;  No.  5,  Pictorial  Poster,  $3.00  per  100.  No.  6,  four- 
page  Tract  with  pictures,  $1.00  per  100;  No.  7,  two-page  Tract, 
email  cut,  25  cents  per  100;  No.  8  is  a  new  Chromo,  20  by  24  inches, 
•with  Dr.  Sewell's  diagram  in  margin,  price  $2.50.  Photograph 
25  cents. 

e^  Large  discount  to  Sahbath  Schools  and  Temperance  Societies, 
Over  three  million  copies  have  been  circulated. 
Send  orders  to 

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Scene  at  Deiuonlaiul.     Worshippers  of  the  prinoipal 
god  of  the  Black  Valley  Country,    p.  68. 


